Combining fuzzy and PID control for an unmanned helicopter

This paper reports the synthesis of a controller for the X-cell minihelicopter. It is developed on basis of the most realistic mathematical model actually made available by V. Gabrilets et al. A combined control structure is proposed: Mamdani controllers keep set points for an altitude/attitude controller. These controllers are designed in the simplest rule base. Altitude/attitude controller is constituted for conventional SISO PID controllers for z-position and roll, pitch and yaw angles. This control scheme mimics the action of an expert pilot. The proposed scheme is tested via simulations; it presents a good performance for hover flight, and control position in slow speed.