A nonlinear trajectory tracking controller for helicopters: Design and experimental evaluation

This paper addresses the design and experimental evaluation of a controller to steer a helicopter along a desired trajectory. The controller is designed based on Lyapunov´s method and backstepping technique. Control laws for thrust and angular velocity are presented that guarantee the convergence of the trajectory tracking error to zero for a simplified helicopter model. Experimental results, which include the helicopter tracking an ellipse, are presented to assess the validity and performance of the proposed controller.