Full Actuator Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion for Enhanced Hybrid UAV Control

Master Thesis (2026)
Author(s)

J.P.G. Dubois (TU Delft - Aerospace Engineering)

Contributor(s)

E. van Kampen – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)

E.J.J. Smeur – Mentor (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)

E. Ntouros – Mentor (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)

Spilios Theodoulis – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Control & Simulation)

Faculty
Aerospace Engineering
More Info
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Publication Year
2026
Language
English
Graduation Date
11-02-2026
Awarding Institution
Delft University of Technology
Programme
['Aerospace Engineering | Control & Simulation']
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering
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Abstract

Expanding the operational capabilities of Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) hinges on control systems that manage highly nonlinear dynamics across broad flight envelopes. Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) is popular for its simplicity and modest modeling needs, but its assumption of infinitely fast actuators and neglect of state-dependent effects limit performance when actuators have slow or heterogeneous dynamics or when aerodynamic effects are significant. Actuator Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (ANDI) overcomes these limitations by explicitly incorporating state-dependent dynamics and finite actuator bandwidth into the control law, enabling improved tracking performance across diverse actuator configurations. This work implements the full ANDI stabilization controller on the Cyclone, a hybrid MAV tail-sitter, using cascaded complementary filtering for state estimation. Simulation and flight experiments validate the approach and assess whether this compensation yields practical performance gains, establishing ANDI as a viable, generic control solution for MAVs
Code is available at:
https://github.com/tudelft/paparazzi/tree/feat_stabilization_andi_controller.

Files

Thesis_report_jdubois.pdf
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