Nonlinear Flight Control of a Two-Degree-of-Freedom Helicopter Using Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model

This paper presents the nonlinear flight control for attitudes of a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) helicopter. A Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is employed to approximate the nonlinear 2DOF helicopter. The model-based fuzzy controller is designed via parallel distributed compensation (PDC). The linear quadratic regulator (LQR) technique is applied to control the input voltage of two DC motors such that the attitudes of an experimental helicopter are tracked. The linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are carried out to guarantee the stability of the nonlinear controller. Computer simulations and experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the nonlinear flight control.