Altitude stabilization in unmanned vertical take-off/landing aircraft

Unmanned vertical take-off/Landing (UVTOL) Aircraft have received great attention for their flexibility and controllability in many applications requiring short range, low altitude air surveillance. Image acquisition and video recording from the air is useful for many demands. The operation of a UVTOL requires altitude stabilization with a very limited payload. This paper presents a flight control stabilization design using a MEMS (microelectronics mechanical system) inertial sensor and a barometric sensor to enhance the altitude stabilization performance. By introducing pressure, velocity, and acceleration estimators, a modified flight controller is constructed and tested. Altitude and vertical velocity stabilization are tested and verified using real flight data.