(Almost) exact path tracking control for an autonomous helicopter in hover manoeuvres

A simplified model of the dynamics of an autonomous model helicopter valid for manoeuvres close to hover is considered. The control task is to track a given path in the position co-ordinates as accurately as possible. This is made difficult since the model contains weakly non-minimum phase zero dynamics which cannot be stably inverted. By placing constraints on the physical weight distribution associated with the necessary sensor and computer components that must be carried by the autonomous unit a new representation the dynamics of the system in block pure feedback form is derived. The exact tracking problem is solved using input/output linearization techniques