Design of Path Following Method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles using Normal Forms∗

The path following problem for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is considered. The target path is chosen as a planar curve which is located at a specified altitude. In the simplest case UAV should move along a predicted planar curve with a constant velocity. In more complicated casesthe UAVvelocityisconsideredassomefunctionoftimewhich is knownatcurrent moment but no prolongation can be done. Ideas that are used for solving of the planar path following problem for wheeled robots now apply for UAVs. To obtain the stabilizing control the theory of normal form of an afine system with single output is used in the case of constant velocity. Some changes of the independent variable are investigated in order to get nonstationary normal forms which allow to design stabilizing control. Results of numerical simulations are demonstrated.