Development of a generic loiter automation for a fixed wing UAV/OPV

Christoph Krause, Florian Holzapfel

Abstract: At the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the Technical University Munich different unmanned aerial vehicles and optionally piloted vehicles are being used to demonstrate the functionality of modern flight management and flight control algorithms. This software consists of a central System Automation module, which handles operating modes and activates the applicable flight control loops. The cascaded control loops can either be activated by the command from the flight operator or fully automatically based on sensor and GPS-integrity information or data link availability. This paper presents the extension of the System Automation module, by an automatic loiter functionality. The Loiter Automation is necessary to enable the operator to enter or exit an appropriate loiter maneuver, depending on sensor information or flight phases. To be simultaneously applicable to different OPV or UAV platforms, a generic implementation has been created.