A novel approach to H∞ control of helicopters

This paper presents our recent work on H^∞ optimal control and its application to an advanced helicopter, for which there are two issues of great importance: handling qualities for mission objectives, and system robustness to various uncertainties and disturbances. So far, research into the application of H^∞ methodologies for control of advanced aircraft is still rather limited and incomplete. There is a lack of sophisticated design routines that allow the trade off between handling qualities requirements, system robustness, and that retain the visibility for engineering use. The work described in this paper is dedicated to address these issues. The system design is based on a 10th-order linearised model, derived from a full nonlinear helicopter model