Model predictive attitude control of vario unmanned helicopter

This paper presents a Model Predictive Control (MPC) based attitude stabilisation system for a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle. We have enhanced the MPC performance by augmenting the helicopter model with servo dynamics during the prediction phase. The inclusion of servo dynamics and time delay yields a smoother control response. A linear state space reduced order model for longitudinal and lateral dynamics of the helicopter is used for controller design. The applicability of the proposed MPC scheme is evaluated on a nonlinear simulation model of an unmanned helicopter for autonomous hover and low speed forward flight. Numerical simulation on the nonlinear model illustrates improved performance of the closed-loop system in presence of servo dynamics and time delays.