Modelling and stabilizing control of a two-axis gimbal for an unmanned aerial vehicle

Christiaan Oosthuizen 1, *, Karim Djouani 1 and Shengzhi Du 2

1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Pretoria, South Africa.
2 Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Pretoria, South Africa.
 
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 2023, 09(02), 251–275.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjaets.2023.9.2.0227
Publication history: 
Received on 30 June 2023; revised on 07 August 2023; accepted on 10 August 2023
 
Abstract: 
In this paper, the modelling and stabilizing control of a two-axis airborne gimbal frame is presented. A combination of analytical as well as statistical techniques are used to model the dynamics of the plant and the actuators. State-space control, Field Oriented Control, non-linear feed-forward compensation as well as Kalman filter sensor fusion are employed in synthesis to control the mechatronic system. Practical methods are used to estimate and validate system variables and parameters. Simulation results are compared to implemented results and the robustness of the control system is verified by means of rigorous parameter variations.
 
Keywords: 
Airborne surveillance platform stabilization; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; Gimbal Modelling; Kalman filters; Asymptotic stability
 
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