Planar geometric path following control for stratospheric airship

A novel planar geometric path following control method for an underactuated stratospheric airship is presented on the basis of dynamic inversion. The method consists of planar position tracking controller, velocity regulator, attitude and altitude stabilizators. The planar position tracking controller realizes the geometric path following control of the airship. For the velocity regulator, a weighted allocation between the linear and angular velocity is designed in consideration of the physical reality, which contributes to the directionality of path following and decreases the number of singularity points for the closed-loop system. In addition, the attitude and altitude stabilizators ensure the planar flight of airship. Finally, simulation results for the stratospheric airship to follow typical path are illustrated to verify effectiveness of the proposed method.