Miniaturization and Control of an Unmanned Tiltwing Aircraft

The objective of this paper is to describe the miniaturization and control of an unmanned tiltwing aircraft. For geometric miniaturization and mechanical realization, a lightweight design based on carbon fiber tubes, polystyrene rigid foam and 3D-printed parts is used. The attitude controller is adopted from an existing full-scale unmanned tiltwing aircraft and follows the control strategy of Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI). The effects of the miniaturization, including low mass inertia combined with comparatively large aerodynamic surfaces, require a re-evaluation of INDI-based assumptions. Due to the aircraft’s rear-positioned center of gravity, the modeled control ability of the main motors is adapted and explicitly considered in the controller design. The integrity of both, construction and controller, is validated in simulations and flight tests.