Design and implementation of a flight control system for an unmanned rotorcraft using rpt control approach

Abstract

In this paper, we apply a so-called robust and perfect tracking (RPT) control technique to the design and implementation of the flight control system of a miniature unmanned rotorcraft, named HeLion. To make the presented work self-contained, we will first outline some background knowledge, including mainly the nonlinear flight dynamics model and the inner-loop flight control system design. Next, the highlight of this paper, that is, the outer-loop flight control system design procedure using RPT control technique, will be detailed. Generally speaking, RPT control technique aims to design a controller such that (i) the resulting closed-loop system is asymptotically stable, and (ii) the controlled output almost perfectly tracks a given reference signal in the presence of any initial conditions and external disturbances. Since it makes use of all possible information including the system measurement output and the command reference signal together with all its derivatives (if available) for control, RPT control technique is particularly useful for the outer-loop layer of an unmanned aircraft. Both simulation and flight-test results will be presented and analyzed at the end of this paper, and the efficiency of the RPT control approach will be evaluated comprehensively. © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society.