Abstract: A roll-only camera based micro unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) capture and track system is studied. A new control method is designed in this article with which the y axis mismatching angle in the image plane frame is eliminated by the camera roll-only axis, while the x axis mismatching angle in the image plane frame is eliminated by the MUAV heading control loop. Based on normal pneumatic formulation and little disturbance linearization method, three flight states of the MUAV (the flight path following state with fixed height, the target search and capture state and the circle track state) are simulated with a MATLAB program. The effect of sudden side wind and the coupling between an x axis mismatching angle and MUAV pitching is considered, and a solution scheme is proposed. Simulation results show that the new control method is effective and could meet the requirements of MUAV flight while capturing and tracking ground targets.

Key words: unmanned aerial vehicles, navigation and control, optoelectronic detection, tracking, flight simulation