Three-layer Aircraft Control: Path-planning, Guidance, Model Predictive Controller as Autopilot

In this paper we present an integrated framework for the control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that consists of three hierarchical layers: 1) the path-planner, 2) the intermediate guidance law, and 3) the autopilot. Our objective is to investigate and demonstrate how the three different layers for the control of an unmanned aerial vehicle can be integrated into one hierarchical control structure and how these layers interact with each other. We employ Dubins path on the path-planner level, a P-controller for the guidance and investigate for the autopilot the use and implementation of advanced model-based control methods, here Model Predictive Control (MPC). The proposed control framework is demonstrated for a small fixed-wing UAV, the Aerosonde.