Hover-to-Cruise Transition Control for High-Speed Level Flight of Ducted Fan UAV

In this paper, we address the hover-to-cruise transition control problem for high-speed level flight of a ducted fan UAV. Firstly, the nonlinear aircraft dynamic system is derived and relevant key aerodynamic characteristics are presented. Then, we divide the dynamic system into known parts and uncertain parts. In order to track a reference system formed by the known parts, we propose a neural-network-based control strategy to learn the error dynamics and cancel the tracking error with proved stability. Finally, simulations and experiments are conducted to perform the transition process at fixed altitude and constant horizontal acceleration, with satisfactory results accomplishing the designed flight course.