Work

A Cascaded MPC Framework for Airborne Wind Energy Systems

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Airborne Wind Energy is an innovative approach to generate electricity from high-altitude winds. Despite advances in AWES control, controlling the aircraft in the face of turbulence, unsteady aerodynamics, and rapid wind variations remains a challenge. Model Predictive Control (MPC) shows promising results, but relies on precise models. To improve MPC performance in the presence of uncertainty, a cascaded control strategy is proposed, integrating MPC at its first stage. This study investigates the effectiveness of Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI) and L1 adaptive control for the second stage, assessing their ability to manage rotational dynamics uncertainties and mitigate disturbances. The controller performance is validated in a realistic simulation that incorporates Gaussian Process (GP) models trained on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) data.

Source: Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision & Control, including the Symposium on Adaptive Processes

DOI: 10.1109/cdc57313.2025.11312922

Authors: Omid Heydarnia, Jolan Wauters, Tom Lefebvre, Guillaume Crevecoeur

Institution: Ghent University

Language: English

Topic: Aerospace Engineering and Energy Systems

Subfield: Aerospace Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: green

Funders: Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vlaamse regering