Comprehensive Nonlinear Modeling of a Miniature Unmanned Helicopter

A nonlinear flight dynamics model that can be adopted by small-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) helicopters is presented. To minimize structural complexity, the proposed nonlinear model contains only four essential components, i.e., kinematics, rigid-body dynamics, main rotor flapping dynamics, and yaw rate feedback controller dynamics. A five-step parameter determination procedure is proposed to estimate the unknown parameters of the flight dynamics model. Based on the time-domain evaluations conducted, the nonlinear model is proven to be accurate in capturing the flight dynamics of our UAV helicopter platform over a wide envelope.