Thrust-Based Stabilization and Guidance for Airships without Thrust-Vectoring

The concept of thrust-based control without the employment of thrust-vectoring (TVC), already introduced in a previous work by the authors, is further developed in conjunction with an appropriate control suite, tasked with both artificial stabilization and beam-tracking navigation functions. In the paper, the fully non-linear mathematical model employed for testing the controllers in a virtual environment is outlined. Then a comparative approach is adopted in the analysis, where a standard tail-back airship with deflectable aerodynamic surfaces is employed as a baseline, and the performance of a four-thrusters layout with a thrust-based control and no TVC is assessed with respect to it. Featured test cases in forward flight include short climbs, abrupt turns, and multi-checkpoint navigation. The research supports the feasibility and adequate performance of the proposed thrust-based airship layout and control, and presents a critical analysis of the pros and cons with respect to the considered baseline airship configuration featuring standard aerodynamic control.