Dynamical Variable Structure Control of a Helicopter in Vertical Flight

In this article, a dynamical multivariable discontinuous feedback contol strategy of the sliding mode type is proposed for the altitude stabilization of a nonlinear helicopter model in vertical flight. While retaining the basic robustness features associated to sliding mode control policies, the proposed approach also results in smoothed out (i.e., non-chattering) input trajectories and controlled state variable responses.