Forwarding control of scale model autonomous helicopter: a Lyapunov control design

A simple model of the dynamics of a scale model autonomous helicopter is considered. A stabilising control law is designed which guarantees the control inputs remain bounded by pre-specified control actuator limits. The approach taken exploits a combination of three non-linear control design techniques: Firstly, a passivity design technique is used to achieve practical stabilisation of the non-linear attitude dynamics of the system. Secondly, the remaining parasitic attitude dynamics are input/output linearised. Finally, forwarding techniques are used to generate a control Lyapunov function and associated control input that robustly globally asymptotically and locally exponentially stabilises the full system.