Outdoor remotely controlled airships can be used as aerial observation and scientific data-gathering platforms for a' wide variety of applications. If such airships can also be configured to operate in an autonomous mode, their efficacy is greatly enhanced. The aim of this paper is to critically review the available literature on design of controllers to help identify a design that is most suitable for imparting autonomous flight capability to an existing remotely controlled airship. The paper provides a brief description of various outdoor autonomous airship projects that have been pursued globally. A six-DOF nonlinear model of the airship is discussed, which can be used to reproduce the airship response to the inputs of actuator and wind disturbances. The linearization of this model for trim conditions over the flight envelope results in the decoupling of the longitudinal and lateral motions, and allows a thorough analysis of the airship control design problem over the entire aerodynamic range.
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