Modeling and altitude control of ground effect aircraft

The aim of this study is to comprehensively examine vehicles that can fly on surfaces such as oceans and seas by taking advantage of the aerodynamic interaction between their wings and the ground, and to perform the height control of such a vehicle in a simulation environment. These vehicles stand out with their more efficient and faster operation compared to normal aircraft. These vehicles, which move like a ship on the water surface, can reach speeds much higher than the speed of ships. In addition, they do not need a runway for landing and take-off, allowing them to be operational on both water and land surfaces. In case of malfunctions that may occur during flight in such vehicles, the risk level for passengers remains lower than in normal aircraft. In addition to being used as a means of transportation between coastal cities, the vehicle can also be used for military purposes. In the study, height control was applied to the developed vehicle model in order to use ground effect in the most efficient way. In this context, a PI (Proportional-Integral) controller, which acts as a low-pass filter and has the ability to filter high-frequency noise in the system, was tested. Simulation results reveal the performance of the proposed controller.