DDPG-based active disturbance rejection 3D path-following control for powered parafoil under wind disturbances
Résumé
The utilization of parafoil systems in both military and civilian domains exhibits a high degree of application potential, owing to their remarkable load-carrying capacity, consistent flight dynamics, and extended flight endurance. The performance and safety of powered parafoils during the flight are directly contingent upon the efficacy of the control system employed. For powered parafoils, the direction is controlled by steering ropes connecting to the edges of the parafoil canopy. And a propeller attached to the back of the payload controls the flight height. However, strong couplings exist between two control channels, which makes controlling powered parafoil systems challenging, especially under wind disturbances. This paper aims to address these challenges by proposing a three-dimensional (3D) path-following control method for powered parafoils. To this end, the lateral and altitude path-following controllers were designed to solve this problem based on linear active disturbance rejection control (LADRC) with disturbance rejection and decoupling features. Furthermore, the adaptive parameters of these two controllers were obtained through the implementation of deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG). The efficacy of the proposed DDPG-LADRC approach was then evaluated through simulations of 3D path tracking, including both straight and circular paths, while also taking into account wind disturbances to assess its anti-disturbance capability. The results of these simulations indicate that the proposed method effectively realizes the 3D path following control of powered parafoils.