Laboratory model helicopter control using a lowcost Arduino hardware

This article focuses on the use of Arduino platform board for the control of laboratory experiment with helicopter. Control of a two degrees of freedom is considered corresponding to the helicopter altitude and attitude. The purpose of this experiment is to provide students with practical experience in automatic control, programming, communication, processing data from sensors and also in dealing with mechanical systems. Our experimental platform was designed especially for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) such as small scale helicopters or quadcopters. It is very helpful for students who do not have so much experiences with flying objects. Used platform should guarantee a safe motion of the UAVs in a three dimensional space.