Sliding mode control of a two-degree-of-freedom helicopter via linear quadratic regulator

This paper presents a novel design of flight control for a two-degree-of-freedom helicopter. The design is composed of the optimal linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and the sliding mode control. The LQR is applied to control the pitch and yaw motion of the helicopter first. The sliding mode controller is employed to guarantee the robustness. Both simulation and experiment results demonstrate the proposed design possesses the optimal performance and robustness against external disturbance.