Automatic Landing Control of Outdoor Blimp Robots(Mechanical Systems)

Abstract

The establishment of the information gathering system is important for the rescue activity. To collect the information, it is useful to use a blimp, because of its low-sky availability, safety and long flight. This paper proposes a control design method for automatic landing of an outdoor blimp robot. This is important for the information-gathering system by an outdoor blimp robot to be put to practical use. The landing control consists of stabilizing control in horizontal plane and vertical control. The stabilizing control is designed by using H_∞ control. The vertical control is composed of control of altitude and pitching motion. Some simulations and experiments are performed in evaluation of the control performance. As a result, the outdoor blimp robot showed a sufficient control performance of automatic landing.