Research on Path Tracking Control of Electric Towbarless Aircraft Taxiing System under Crosswind Condition

The lateral dynamic and kinematic models of the electric towbarless towing vehicle (TLTV)–aircraft system, incorporating active front steering for the TLTV, are formulated to evaluate the impact of crosswind on the aircraft’s towing trajectory. This analysis considers scenarios with varying towing velocities and crosswind directions and intensities. To mitigate crosswind-induced disturbances affecting the aircraft’s motion, A high-speed and low-speed Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy for the active front steering of a TLTV is proposed. This strategy is designed to optimize the TLTV’s steering performance under varying operational conditions, addressing the distinct dynamic characteristics of high-speed and low-speed towing scenarios. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control method achieves exceptional performance in both speed regulation and path tracking during towing operations.