Helicopter Lands on Uneven Terrain by means of Articulated Robotic Legs-Modelling, Simulation and Control Approach

Abstract

In this paper, a 3D mathematical model of a helicopter attached to a robotic landing gear is proposed to investigate into helicopter landing on uneven terrain. The landing gear consists of four articulated legs connected to the he licopter fuselage. Each leg has two revolute joints governed by PID joint controllers to generate motion with two degrees of freedom (DoF). A combination of Lagrange and Newton-Euler techniques is used to model the system dynamics, its motion and joint torques. A contact model is introduced to simulate ground interaction forces and a level controller that use s a PI algorithm to maintain the main body desired attitude when landing in two-axes slopes. Simulation results are compare d to a second model de signed using the SimMechanics toolbox for validation purpose.