Adaptive control strategy for an unmanned helicopter

The unmanned helicopter (UH) handling qualities design is a challenging task since the vehicle dynamics subject to parametric uncertainties and measurement noise. This paper presents an adaptive control scheme with error compensation that can achieve significant tracking performance. Moreover, with the benefit of variable gain elements with automatic fade-in and fade-out function, the adverse effect of measurement noise on the output of the test plant can also be reduced in the later stage of the adaptive learning process. The proposed controller is demonstrated through a series of near-ground fight tests.