This paper presents a method for recovering Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) in flight using a mothership and towed drogue. A method for modelling the dynamics of the mothership-cable-drogue system, based on Gauss's principle, is presented. The differential flatness property of the system is exploited to calculate mothership trajectories from desired drogue orbits, and a Lyapunov based controller is proposed that enables accurate mothership trajectory tracking. A drag-based controller for the drogue is also described. Methods to enable the MAV to estimate and track the drogue orbit are discussed. The modelling and control methods are illustrated through simulation and flight results.
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Colton et al. (2011) studied this question.
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