Quaternion Attitude Control System of Highly Maneuverable Aircraft

In the era of rapid advancements in manned and unmanned aviation and robotics, there is a need for high-performance, robust attitude control of highly maneuverable fixed-wing aircraft, both manned and unmanned (UAVs). This paper presents an extension to research on spacecraft attitude control. The article extends existing concepts and applies them to the control problem of aircraft operating in Earth’s atmosphere. First, a general concept of quaternions is presented. Next, the attitude controller’s architecture is discussed. The controller synthesis is described using quaternion algebra. The quaternion-based attitude controller is then compared with a classical Euler-based attitude controller. The methodology for comparison and performance evaluation of both controllers is described. Lastly, the results of the simulations and a comparison of the two controllers are presented and discussed. The presented control scheme outperforms classical methods based on Euler angles, particularly at the aircraft’s high pitch and roll angles.