Observer-Based Gain Scheduling Control of Robotic Helicopter

This paper describes the design of an observer-based gain-scheduling controller for the flight of an unmanned helicopter. Two linear quadratic integral controllers are designed for the linear models of the helicopter which is linearized in two operating points. Then the observer-based schedule controller is implemented, which is a linear fractional transformation between a fixed controller and a scheduling parameter. The success of the gain-scheduling controller in maintaining desirable flying qualities as the helicopter accelerates from hover to forward flight is demonstrated in nonlinear simulation. As the results of the simulation show, the system is performing promisingly.