Altitude control of powered parafoil with wind feedforward compensation

The lift of the powered parafoil system is determined by the system′s airspeed, making it susceptible to external wind interference and the primary disturbance factor affecting the accuracy of the parafoil′s altitude tracking. To address this issue, an eight-degree-of-freedom model of the powered parafoil was established based on traditional active disturbance rejection control. An improved disturbance compensation controller was designed based on wind field feedforward compensation. The compensation for external wind disturbance was targeted. The altitude tracking control of the parafoil system was achieved. Based on preliminary verification of the controller through simulation experiments, actual flight experiments of the parafoil system were conducted. In the actual flight environment, the control parameters adjusted in the simulation can be directly applied to the actual flight experiments, and the average altitude tracking error of the paraglider system is within 2.5 m, which proving that the designed controller has some practical application value.