Flight Control and Stability
Making aircraft fly steadily on their own: sensor-based auto-stabilisation, fly-by-wire and fly-by-light control links, an AI-assisted autopilot, and flight-dynamics simulation in MATLAB/Simulink.
About this project
A model aircraft is only as good as the system that keeps it level. This track studies how an IMU's gyroscopes and accelerometers become control-surface commands, how a PID loop is tuned, and how far that can be pushed with modern controllers.
Everything is tried in simulation first: controllers are built and tuned in MATLAB/Simulink or ArduPilot's software-in-the-loop simulator, and only then flown on a test airframe. Fly-by-light (control signals sent over optical fibre instead of wires) is studied as a bench experiment.
What the team is working on
- Build an auto-stabilisation system from an IMU (gyroscope and accelerometer) and tune its PID loops
- Compare fly-by-wire with fly-by-light control links on a bench test rig
- Explore an AI-assisted autopilot, starting with learned gain tuning in simulation
- Model and simulate the aircraft's flight dynamics in MATLAB/Simulink before each test flight
Tools and technologies
- MATLAB / Simulink
- IMU (gyro + accelerometer)
- PID control
- ArduPilot / PX4
- SITL simulation
- Arduino / STM32
- Python
More projects
Aircraft design
Aircraft Design: Glider, UAV and VTOLDesigning the club's next aircraft from first sketch to flight: a mini glider and UAV, a more efficient wing developed with CAD and CFD, and a VTOL airframe.
Propulsion systems
Propulsion SystemsWhat makes aircraft go, and how to make it better: electric and hybrid propulsion for drones and planes, micro jet engine study and testing, efficiency measurements on small engines, and quieter propellers.
Materials & structures
Materials and StructuresLighter, stronger airframes: composites such as carbon and glass fibre, wing load testing with sensors, smart materials like shape-memory alloys, and structural health monitoring with fibre optics.