This paper addresses the design and performance analysis for a preview control laser range finder (LRF) based terrain-following system for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles. The complexity and performance of such systems depend predominantly on the chosen concept and the layout of its hardware components, mainly its sensors. The related estimation and control algorithms designed for the terrain-following task have to further address system uncertainties and disturbances. In this paper, a laser range sensor based terrain-following system is proposed. The various error factors are discussed and the error propagation through the system is analyzed. The resulting error model is first verified using a numerical simulation, Subsequently, it is utilized to quantify the system tracking error, outline the preferred values for various system parameters in order to achieve higher terrain-following performance, and finally suggest the optimal pointing angle for the LRF. The suggested analysis approach and results grant an effective analytical method for designing such terrain-following system and evaluating its performance.

中文翻译：

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基于激光测距仪的地形跟随预览控制方法

本文讨论了基于预控激光测距仪 (LRF) 的固定翼无人机地形跟随系统的设计和性能分析。此类系统的复杂性和性能主要取决于所选概念和硬件组件（主要是传感器）的布局。为地形跟随任务设计的相关估计和控制算法必须进一步解决系统的不确定性和干扰。在本文中，提出了一种基于激光距离传感器的地形跟随系统。讨论了各种误差因素，并分析了通过系统的误差传播。所得误差模型首先使用数值模拟进行验证，然后用于量化系统跟踪误差，概述各种系统参数的首选值，以实现更高的地形跟随性能，最后建议 LRF 的最佳指向角度。建议的分析方法和结果为设计此类地形跟随系统并评估其性能提供了一种有效的分析方法。