A Controller for Tracking Steep Glide Slopes for an Unmanned Gyroplane

This paper presents a glide slope tracking controller for an autonomous gyroplane during the final approach. This controller tracks the glide slope by adjusting the airspeed command and the collective based on the altitude error. To track steep glide slope angles, while maintaining a minimal airspeed for lateral and directional control, a feedforward airspeed command is computed based on the wind estimation. The controller performance was tested for several vehicle configurations and under various wind conditions using nonlinear simulation.