Linear Quadratic Regulator Control Design for an Autonomous Small Scale Helicopter

Abstract

The use of small scale helicopters for diverse scientific and commercial applications has gained much popularity in the recent past. Their agility has made them an ideal option for various missions ranging from weather research, agriculture, aerial surveillance to power line inspection. Compared to their full scale counterparts, however, the small scale helicopters posses a higher bandwidth of dynamics and a greater sensitivity to control inputs which make them more difficult to control. The paper deals with the control system design using Linear Quadratic Regulator for an autonomous small scale helicopter. A nonlinear dynamics model of the helicopter is derived from the Euler-Newton equations of motion. Multiple linear models are numerically extracted for various trim conditions. Linear control system is then designed for the small scale helicopter following predefined trajectories. Simulations of various autonomous flight operations are conducted as preparation for flight  experiment.