Closed-Loop Control of a Delta-Wing Unmanned Aerial-Aquatic Vehicle

Abstract: We present a closed-loop control strategy for a delta-wing unmanned aerial aquatic-vehicle (UAAV) that enables autonomous swim, fly, and water-to-air transition. Our control system consists of a hybrid state estimator and a closed-loop feedback policy which is capable of trajectory following through the water, air and transition domains. To test our estimator and control approach in hardware, we instrument the vehicle with a minimalistic set of commercial off-the-shelf sensors. Finally, we demonstrate a successful autonomous water-to-air transition with our prototype UAAV system and discuss the implications of these results with regards to robustness.