Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dynamic Compensation for Control of a Rotary wing UAV Using Positive Position Feedback

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents a novel compensation method for the coupled fuselage-rotor mode of a Rotary wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (RUAV). The presence of stabilizer bar limits the performance of attitude control of an RUAV. In this paper, a Positive Position Feedback (PPF) is introduced to increase the stability margins and allow higher control bandwidth. The identified model is used to design a PPF controller to mitigate the presence of stabilizer bar. Parameters for the linear RUAV model are obtained by performing linear system identification about a few selected points. This identification process gives complete RUAV dynamics and is suitable for designing a Stability Augmentation System (SAS) of an RUAV. The identified parameters of an RUAV model are verified using experimental flight data and can be used to obtain the nonlinear model of an RUAV. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested using a high-fidelity RUAV simulation model, which is validated through experimental flight data. The closed-loop response of the rotorcraft indicates that the desired attitude performance is achieved while ensuring that the coupled fuselage-rotor mode is effectively compensated without penalizing the phase response.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Valavanis, P.K.: Advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: State of the Art and the Road to Autonomy. Springer, Dordrecht (2007)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Mettler, B., Kanade, T., Tischler, M.: System Identification Modeling of a Model-Scale Helicopter. Technical Report CMU-RI-TR-00-03, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2003)

  3. Mettler, B., Tischler, M., Kanade, T.: System identification modeling of a small-scale unmanned rotorcraft for flight control design. AHS 47(1), 50–63 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cheng, R., Tischler, M., Schulein, G.: RMAX helicopter state-space model identification for hover and forward-flight. AHS 51(2), 202–210 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Shim, H., Kim, H., Sastry, S.: Control system design for rotorcraft-based unmanned aerial vehicles using time-domain system identification. In: IEEE Conference on Control Applications, pp. 808–813. Anchorage, AK, USA (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Mettler, B.: Identification Modeling and Characteristics of Miniature Rotorcraft. Kluwer, Boston (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kim, H., Shim, D.: A flight control system for aerial robots: algorithms and experiments. Control Eng. Pract. 11(12), 1389–1400 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mettler, B., Kanade, T., Tischler, M., Messner, W.: Attitude control optimization for a small-scale unmanned helicopter. In: AIAA Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control. Denver, CO, USA (2000)

  9. Goh, C., Caughey, T.: On the stability problem caused by finite actuator dynamics in the collocated control of large space structures. Int. J. Control 41(3), 787–802 (1985)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Pota, H.R., Moheimani, S.O.R., Smith, M.: Resonant controllers for smart structures. Smart Mater. Struc. 11, 1–8 (2002). ISSN: 0964-1726

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fanson, J., Caughey, T.: Positive position feedback control for large space structures. AIAA J. 28(4), 717–724 (1990)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lanzon, A., Petersen, I.: Stability robustness of a feedback interconnection of systems with negative imaginary frequency response. IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr. 53(4)), 1042–1046 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. Garratt, M., Ahmed, B., Pota, H.: Platform enhancements and system identification for control of an unmanned helicopter. In: IEEE Conference on Control, Aut., Robotics and Vision—ICARCV 2006, Singapore, 5–8 December 2006, pp. 1981–1986. ISBN: 1-4244-0342-1

  14. Koo, T., Sastry, S.: Output tracking control design of a helicopter model based on approximate linearization. In: IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, vol. 4, pp. 3635–3640. Tampa, FL, USA (1998)

  15. Ahmed, B., Pota, H., Garratt, M.: Flight control of a Rotary wing UAV using backstepping. Int. J. Robust Nonlinear Control (2009). doi:10.1002/rnc.1458.

  16. Prouty, R.: Helicopter Performance, Stability, and Control. PWS Engineering, Boston (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Garratt, M.: Biologically Inspired Vision and Control for an Autonomous Flying Vehicle. Ph.D. dissertation, Australian National University (2007)

  18. Padfield, G.: Helicopter Flight Dynamics: The Theory and Application of Flying Qualities and Simulation Modeling. AIAA (1996)

  19. Ahmed, B., Pota, H., Garratt, M.: Flight control of a Rotary wing UAV—a practical approach. In: IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, pp. 5042–5047. Grand Coral Beach, Cancun, Mexico (2008). ISBN: 1-4244-3124-3

  20. McKelvey, T., Akçay, H., Ljung, L.: Subspace-based multivariable system identification from frequency response data. IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr. 41(7), 960–979 (1996)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  21. Tischler, M., Remple, R.: Aircraft and Rotorcraft System Identification: Engineering Methods with Flight-Test Examples. AIAA (2006)

  22. Vautier, B.: Charge-Driven Piezoelectric Actuators in Structural Vibration Control Applications. Master’s thesis, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Newcastle, Australia (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mettler, B., Gavrilets, V., Feron, E., Kanade, T.: Dynamic compensation for high-bandwidth control of small-scale helicopter. In: American Helicopter Society Specialist Meeting (2002)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autonomous Systems Laboratory, CSIRO ICT Centre, Brisbane, QLD, 4069, Australia

    Bilal Ahmed

  2. School of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of New South Wales, at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia

    Hemanshu R. Pota

Authors
  1. Bilal Ahmed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hemanshu R. Pota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bilal Ahmed.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ahmed, B., Pota, H.R. Dynamic Compensation for Control of a Rotary wing UAV Using Positive Position Feedback. J Intell Robot Syst 61, 43–56 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9487-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-010-9487-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation