Multivariable Adaptive Control Design with Applications to Autonomous Helicopters

Control of autonomous helicopters in the presence of environmental and system uncertainties is a challenging task. These uncertainties not only change the dynamics of the system but the trim inputs themselves. A viable multivariable adaptive control methodology is proposed that is applicable for general maneuvers with arbitrary speeds and high-bandwidth requirements. The control design methodology achieves global stability and is tested on a high-fidelity simulation of a real life autonomous helicopter. The results indicate a satisfactory tracking performance even as the speeds and bandwidth requirements are increased well beyond hover and as the parametric uncertainties were increased by about 20% of their nominal values.