Abstract
A numerical model that estimates the parameters of a small, unmanned coaxial rotor helicopter with a takeoff mass of 11.9 kg was developed. The modeled coaxial rotor helicopter did not have any additional damping to its dynamics such as a stabilizer bar or external gyro, which are common in commercial hobby helicopter models. Therefore, any sinusoidal actuator input from manual flight led to a large deviation of attitude rates, resulting in uncontrollable situations. A feedback attitude controller was included during test flights and parameter estimation to address this problem. Time domain experimental data were used to help estimate and validate the parameters of the helicopter. Attitude responses predicted by the model show extremely small discrepancies with experimental data. Therefore, the developed numerical model can be used for coaxial rotor helicopter controller design and other simulation purposes.
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Recommended by Associate Editor Junzhi Yu
Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh (2003) and Pusan National University, South Korea (2011), respectively.
Jun-Beom Song received his B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Pusan National University, Korea in 2005. He is enrolled in a joint MA/PhD program and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Aerospace Engineering at Pusan National University. His research interests include guidance and control of an unmanned aircraft as well as application of embedded systems.
Sanghyun Chae received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Pusan National University, Korea, in 2007 and 2010, respectively. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Aerospace Engineering Department, Pusan National University. His research interests include the development of CFD solver for efficient calculations, analysis of aerodynamic and aero acoustic performance of helicopter rotors, and shape design of rotor blades.
Young-Seop Byun received his B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from Pusan National University, Korea in 2005. He is currently enrolled in a joint MA/PhD program and is a Ph.D. candidate in Aerospace Engineering at Pusan National University. His research interests include design and manufacturing of various types of rotorcraft systems including coaxial and multi-rotor platform.
Beom-Soo Kang received his M.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea in 1983. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. He joined Pusan National University as a professor in 1993. His research interests include unmanned aerial vehicle system, computer-aided engineering of manufacturing process by finite element method for structural analysis, materials processing, and metal forming.
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Harun-Or-Rashid, M., Song, JB., Chae, S. et al. Unmanned coaxial rotor helicopter dynamics and system parameter estimation. J Mech Sci Technol 28, 3797–3805 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-014-0842-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-014-0842-7