Small-scale helicopters are increasingly popular platforms for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The ability of helicopters to take off and land vertically, to perform hover flight as well as cruise flight, and their agility, makes them ideal vehicles for a range of applications in a variety of environments. Existing small-scale rotorcraft-based UAVs (RUAVs), however, exploit only a modest part of the helicopter's inherent qualities. For example, their operation is generally limited to hover and slow-speed flight, and their control performance is, in most cases, sluggish. These limitations on RUAV operation are mainly due to flight control systems that are designed without precise knowledge of the vehicle dynamics. This paper describes the first comprehensive application of system identification techniques to a small-scale helicopter, Carnegie Mellon's autonomous Yamaha R-50 helicopter. A complete parameterized model describing the dynamics of the vehicle about its six degrees of freedom is developed. The model includes the rotor and stabilizer bar dynamics, which allow for improved high-bandwidth fidelity and, at the same time, for the extraction of important physical parameters. The Comprehensive Identification from Frequency Responses (CIFER) is used to identify the parameterized model. Both the hover and cruise flight conditions are modelled. Subsequently, the model is successfully validated by comparing the model-predicted responses with the responses collected during flight experiments. Finally, the values of key identified parameters are compared with the values predicted by rotorcraft theory to demonstrate that the parameterization is consistent with the physical characteristics of the small-scale rotorcraft.
System identification modeling of a small-scale unmanned rotorcraft for flight control design
Flugmechanisches Modell für das Flugregelungssystem eines unbemannten Modellhubschraubers
Journal of the American Helicopter Society ; 47 , 1 ; 50-63
2002
14 Seiten, 10 Bilder, 7 Tabellen, 15 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
System Identification Modeling of a Small-Scale Unmanned Rotorcraft for Flight Control Design
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