Control Logic for Automated Aerobatic Flight of a Miniature Helicopter

Abstract

In this paper we describe the control logic that enabled a small-scale unmanned helicopter to execute a completely automatic aerobatic maneuver. The logic consists of steady-state trim trajectory controllers, used prior to, and upon the exit from the maneuver; and a maneuver logic inspired by human pilot strategies. Extensive flight tests with this control logic demonstrated smooth entry into the maneuver, automatic recovery to a steady-state trim trajectory, and the robustness of the trim-trajectory control system toward measurement and modeling errors. This approach can be extended to a variety of maneuvers.

Deployment and Connectivity Repair of a Sensor Net with a Flying Robot

“…A good overview of the various types of vehicles and the algorithms used for control of these vehicles can be found in [17] . Recent work has included autonomous landing [16,19], aggressive maneuvering of helicopters [9] and pursuitevasion games [21].…”

Autonomous Autorotation of an RC Helicopter

“…A ground-based four-camera system measures the helicopter's position. 6 A (extended) Kalman filter uses both of these sets of measurements to track the helicopter's position, velocity, orientation and angular rate. In addition, our Tempest includes a custom tachometer, which uses a magnet attached to the main rotor shaft and a Hall effect sensor to monitor the rotational speed of the main rotor.…”

“…However, various prior work has shown it is possible to build a sufficiently accurate model for control by treating the helicopter as a rigid-body, possibly including the blade-flapping dynamics and the main rotor speed. (See, e.g., [13,7,6,2,1,5].) We model the helicopter with a thirteen dimensional state consisting of position, orientation, velocity, angular rate and main rotor speed.…”

“…Examples range from basic upright hovering and forward flight [4,10,15,16,17] to inverted hovering [14], and even to extreme aerobatic maneuvers [1,6,5].…”

Landing a Helicopter on a Moving Target

“…Unmanned aerial vehicles, particularly ones with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities (VTOL), have received considerable attention in the past decade [1][2][3][4]. Helicopters are highly maneuverable vehicles that can perform agile maneuvers, as well as hover in place.…”