Path planing and control of airborne systems for optimal wind energy extraction

In this paper, electric power production using airborne systems (kites) has been investigated. In the first step, an appropriate model is extracted to describe the behavior of airborne systems. Based on this model, a new path planning algorithm is proposed for the airborne system in the traction phase. Then, in order to achieve the proper operation, tracking the desired path and thus extracting optimal wind energy, a robust controller based on the sliding mode approach is designed in the presence of variations in atmospheric parameters and uncertainties in the system model. In the proposed method, the control strategy is obtained based on the speed vector angle of the airborne. In the proposed approach, six target points are used for the path designing of the kite motion in the traction phase, which increases the precision and flexibility of the designed path. Furthermore, the effect of adjusting the shape of the flight path of the airborne system during the traction phase on the system performance and extraction of the maximum wind force is also investigated