Levitation control system of The manned experimental wing-in-ground effect vehicle ART003R

The goal of this study is to develop a control method for levitation stabilization of an aerodynamic levitated train named the “Aero-Train,” which is a high-speed, high-efficiency train system. The levitation in this system occurs because of the wing-in-ground effect that acts on a U-shaped guideway. In order to achieve the goal of this study, authors have been developing the two-passenger experimental vehicle ART003R. In this paper, the overview of ART003R and the development of its control system are illustrated. Moreover, results of the preliminary levitation experiments using simple PD control, which confirmed the effectiveness of developed control system hardware, are described.