This research was aimed at developing a cost-effective, simple, and reliable autopilot system which could be applied to the payloads used in The ASTRO project, whose objective is to provide access to the near space environments for educational and research purposes. Based on the previous flights, the controllability of the payloads during the descent phase has become a necessary feature in the ASTRO project. In order to meet this need, an examination of a Return-to-Point Vehicle (RPV) was started. In our balloon flights, the RPV reached the desired altitude (around 100,000 ft), and it was released from a balloon. When the RPV was released, it was guided to head towards the waypoints which were programmed on Autopilot before the balloon was launched. For the design of the flight simulation program and controller, the dynamics of the RPV were modeled with a 6-DOF. The Autopilot system of RPV was also simulated on Matlab/Simulink with estimated wind disturbances. This paper discusses the method to reach the waypoints to achieve the desired landing zone at the end of flight For this purpose, dynamic analysis was performed and control algorithm was developed.
展开▼
