Dynamic Modeling and Hardware-In-Loop Simulation for a Tail-Sitter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in Hovering Flight

Abstract

This paper presents a hardware-in-loop (HIL) simulation method for a tail-sitter vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) dynamic model for the tail-sitter vehicle is obtained with an aerodynamic database. An HIL simulation environment is developed that is capable of real-time dynamic simulation and supports a robot operating system (ROS)-based open-source autopilot. An independent ROS package is developed for data communication between a simulator and flight control computer. The hardware-in-loop setup is an indispensable tool for both hardware and software design of the control system for tail-sitter vehicles.