I am working on designing a complete fixed wing autopilot system as a fun project and because I'm going to school for software development and figure its a good project to show future employers.
My questions is on the control of heading and nested PIDs. How is heading typically controlled? If you have a craft with both rudder and aileron how are these controlled together to turn the aircraft to a desired heading. I am a private pilot and so when flying full size I start a bank with rudder and aileron and then by feel withdraw some of the rudder and then reverse to bank back to level. How is this done in software? I understand control of altitude. For example you could have an altitude PID that takes in a desired altitude and calculates a desired climb rate which is passed as the set point to a Climb PID and then the Climb PID calculates the needed pitch angle which is finally passed to the servo. I am looking for a similar explanation for proper control of heading. I look forward to any help anyone can give and thanks in advance.
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