Optimal control design for enhanced stability in the transition phase of tilt-rotor UAVs

Abstract This article completes the dynamic modeling and optimal flight control of tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles during the transition phase through multi-body dynamics and optimization theory. We derive the first type of Lagrange dynamic model of a tilt-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle using the constraint equations of the Newton-Euler equation and virtual power principle combination system and solve the optimal control problem during the transition phase using a sequential quadratic programming algorithm. The numerical results indicate that this method can smoothly switch the flight mode of tilt or unmanned aerial vehicles.