A Simplified Adaptive Backstepping Control of Aircraft Lateral/Directional Dynamics

Abstract A simple approach is proposed in this paper to control lateral/directional dynamics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The approach uses backstepping technique to design a lateral/directional controller. As the aerodynamics coefficients are not accurately available for the whole flight regime, we propose an adaptive design to learn and control unknown dynamics. The proposed approach provides satisfactory performance in tracking reference in roll rate using aileron and in maintaining sideslip angle to zero value using rudder. The design is validated on the six degrees of freedom model with the effect of actuator saturation.