This paper presents the development and demonstration of an automated altitude controller for a very low weight Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) (i.e. less than 15g), via low-cost ground-based equipment, and without the provision of active telemetry data from the airframe: this approach contrasts with current technologies that generally seek to place greater functionality within the airframe itself. It is shown that development of a suitable control algorithm is most efficiently achieved by simultaneous creation of an adequate airframe dynamic model, allowing stable control laws to be developed away from the unpredictable flight-test environment and adequate model development to be closely verified against flight-test data. The methodology is practically demonstrated with a simple commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) MAV whose internal stabilization controller is not available for modification and has no facility for transmission of airframe parameters to the controlling ground-station.
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