MECH-4672
Flight Dynamics and Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Course Description
Flight dynamics modelling for fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft. Low-Reynolds number considerations applicable to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Control theory and state-space control schemes. State-space controller design for UAVs. Lab(s) involving control of virtual and/or physical UAV models.
Class and lab information
Lecture: 3 hours/week
Laboratory or tutorial: 2 hours/week
Additional, approximate study hours: 7 hours/week, as student requires
Estimated division of Learning hours
hands-on labs and activities: N/A
group work: N/A
lecture: 20%
individual work (including homework, project, and tutorials): 55%
class discussion (during lecture time): 25%
Credit weight: 3.0
Course format: face-to-face content summaries, examples, and questions with online and textbook-based readings, videos, tutorials, etc.
Pre-requisites
Resources
Course Blackboard site: available via student Blackboard login
Course Whiteboard site
Interactive in-class activities via tools discussed at the beginning of the course.
There should be no costs to students for using these interactive tools.
Primary text
Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, by Kimon P. Valavanis, and Vachtsevanos, George J (referred to in this course as “UAV Handbook”)
Additional resources
Flight Vehicle Aerodynamics, by Mark Drela (MIT Press). Available to order as a physical or e-book from https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/flight-vehicle-aerodynamics. This book is optional.
Small Unmanned Aircraft Theory and Practice, by Randal W. Beard & Timothy W. McLain, Princeton University Press, 2012.
Web resources