Robust Controller for Vertical-Longitudinal-Lateral Dynamics Control of Small Helicopter

Abstract The problem of stabilization of vertical, lateral and longitudinal dynamics for hover flight mode of an unmanned autonomous helicopter (UAH) in a gusty environment is considered. The controller design is based on a generic linear model which successfully describes the behavior of most small scale helicopters. A recursive (backstepping) design procedure is used to design the robust controller for vertical, longitudinal and lateral dynamics based on the Lyapunov’s method. For comparison purposes we design another controller based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) criteria. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed controllers can effectively attenuate the gust effects and achieve rapid and accurate vertical, longitudinal and lateral position tracking when gusts occur.