Trajectory tracking of a high altitude unmanned airship based on adaptive feedback linearization

Nonlinear dynamic model of a high-altitude unmanned airship, expressed by generalized coordinate system, was built. A nonlinear compensation was introduced into the control loop to linearize and decouple the nonlinear system globally. In view of the imprecisely unknown inertia parameters of the airship, an adaptive law was proposed based on the feedback linearization to realize autonomous tracking of any continuous time-varying desired trajectory from an arbitrary initial condition. The stability of the closed-loop control system was proved by using the Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, numerical simulation results demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed adaptive control law.