In case of engine failure, skilled pilots can save a helicopter from crashing by executing an emergency procedure known as autorotation. In autorotation, rather than relying on the engine to drive the main rotor, the pilot has to control the helicopter such that potential energy from altitude is transferred to rotor speed. In fact, maintaining a sufficiently high rotor speed is critical to retain sufficient control of the helicopter to land safely. In this paper, the authors present the first autonomous controller to successfully pilot a remotely controlled (RC) helicopter during an autorotation descent and landing. They first collect flight data from an expert pilot. They use the flight data to (i) build an accurate dynamics model of a helicopter in autorotation, and (ii) help us define the autorotation task. Then they use tools from optimal control (in particular, differential dynamic programming) to design a controller for autonomous autorotation.
Autonomous autorotation of an RC helicopter
Autonome Autorotation eines ferngesteuerten Hubschraubers
2009
10 Seiten, 3 Bilder, 18 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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