2010 International Conference on Digital Manufacturing & Automation

Hovering Control of Unmanned Small Size Helicopter Based on Adaptive Inverse Control Theory
LI Jin-song 1,2 , CAO Xi 1 , YAN Guo-zheng 1 , SONG Li-bo 2
1. School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering; 2. Eng. Training Center, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 200240, China
AbstractAdaptive inverse control (AIC) theory is introduced to inhibit interferences such as side wind during hovering control for small-sized unmanned helicopter. Based on this theory, an AIC control block diagram is improved to accommodate with the characteristics of helicopter hovering model and robust design. According to structure and fundamental theory of small-sized unmanned helicopter, a hover flight experimental platform is built. Also, the translation equations and the rotation equations are derived by the Kane Equation. Recursive least square (RLS) method is used to identify the parameters and design the controller. The experimental results show that, in terms of interference elimination, AIC-RLS method is better than PID controller. The realization of open-air hovering control on flight experimental platform demonstrates the method presented in this paper is effective. Keywords-small-sized unmanned helicopter; dynamical modeling; adaptive inverse control(AIC); recursive least square(RLS) algorithm; hovering control; side wind; flight experimental platform

ferences, such as side wind, into account. Unfortunately, these interferences will have a tremendous impact on helicopter practically, which is sensitive to interferences. Adaptive Inverse Control(AIC) is superior to some other method due to its quality of simpler modeling, quicker dynamic response, better following performance, interferences eliminating ability and independent dynamic controls. AIC is successfully utilized in many fields [5]-[10], and especially suitable for the control objects having multivariable, nonlinear, strong coupling and interference sensibility. In this paper, the author presents a control method based on AIC theory and verifies the superiority of AIC theory in hovering attitude control. Besides, a platform is designed and set up to accomplish open-air hovering and anti-interference experiment under side wind effect. II. SYSTEM AND DYNAMIC MODEL

I.

INTRODUCTION

Attitude control is the inner loop of speed and flight path control, so its one of key techniques in helicopter flight control. Hovering is a unique flight mode for helicopter compared to fixed-wings aircraft so that it is a crucial criterion for measuring the performance of helicopters. Therefore, accomplishment of hovering attitude controls is quite important in unmanned helicopter design. A lot of research has been done in this field, and it has been realized in different technologies. Markov decision process and reinforcement learning are applied to achieve indoor self-hovering [1]; Two kinds of indoor hovering control systems are constructed based on dynamic and manipulation model [2]; Using Explicit Model-Following (EMF) control, system simulations are implemented [3]; Sarsa reinforcement learning and multilayer feedforward neural network are combined together to realize the on-line optimization of the micro unmanned helicopter hovering control performance [4]. However, aforementioned researches all failed to take the effect of outdoor inter978-0-7695-4286-7/10 $26.00 2010 IEEE DOI 10.1109/ICDMA.2010.55 804 805

A. System Description The helicopter presented in this paper is a model of single-bladed rotor helicopter with tail rotor, the structure that is accepted as a research challenge in hovering control. The mechanical part of this model is HIROBO SDX Series 60 model helicopter; the DSP embedded gyroscope sampling system and motor driving system is self-developed. For this model, no-waving hinge joint is used as connection between blades of main rotor and its axis so that the blades can be treated as rigid parts---their flexible wave can be neglected. The coordinate movement description of this model is shown in Fig.1 [11].

Figure 1. coordinates movement description of helicopter model

is inertial coordinate system; model coordinate system. F MR TR O ,O and O are the centroid of airframe, main rotor and tail rotor, respectively. The lifting force conducted by main rotor is F3MR , and the torques are T1MR , T2 MR and T3MR ; F2TR and T2TR represent the pulling force and anti-torque conducted by tail rotor, respectively.
O N - n1 - n2 - n3
O - f1 - f 2 - f 3

is

B. Dynamical Model In O N n1 n2 n3 coordinate system, the displacement-speed relationship of unmanned helicopter are described by (1)

(1) In O f1 f 2 f3 coordinate system, the Euler attitude angles-rotation speed relationship of unmanned helicopter are given by (2)

=u x =v y =w z

(1) f 3 is co-axis with the main rotor shaft. And centroid of the airframe, O F , is on f 3 (can be obtained by trimming); (2) r is a constant(can be implemented by independent travel control ring); (3) Rotation speed of main rotor, MR , is a constant; (4) Moment of inertia conducted by main MR and motor rotating around T1MR and T2MR , say I11 MR I 22 , are equal; (5) Neglecting the inertial effect of tail rotor. Based on aforementioned assumptions and the Kane Equation Fi + Fi* = 0(i = 1, 2, , 6) , the dynamic equations of the system can be obtained. The displacement dynamic equation of the system can be described by (3) = F3MR (sin sin + sin cos cos ) mu

F2TR (sin cos sin sin cos ) = F2TR (cos cos + sin sin sin ) mv F3MR (sin cos sin sin cos ) = F2TR sin cos + F3MR cos cos mg mw (3) And the rotation dynamic equation of the system can be described by (4) u MR v = a12 q + b11 p T1 + b11 F2TR + bqr qr

= p + tan (q sin + r cos )

= q cos r sin
= (q sin + r cos ) / cos
x

(2) , y , z in (1) describe the position of helicopter in inertial coordinate system and u , v , w are translation speed of u v helicopter(all parameters are measured in = a21 p + b22 q T2MR + b22 T2TR + bpr pr O N n1 n2 n3 coordinate system). , , in (2) u v = b31 r F2TR + b33 T3MR + bpq pq are pitch angle, roll angle and travel angle (Euler (4) attitude angles) ; p , q , r represent the rotation The expressions of parameters ai and b j are speed of helicopter round about f , f 2 and f 3 in shown at the bottom of this page. model coordinate system(all parameters are Detailed specifications and values of these parameters will be introduced in the later measured in O f1 f 2 f3 coordinate system). section. In order to construct the dynamic equations, From the equations (3) and (4), it is clear that the helicopter model is assumed to be two rigid the dynamic system of helicopter is a parts. And in this paper, Kane method is chosen under-drive system (the number of inputs greater to modeling as its advantages of less than that of computation and simple processes [12], [13]. Before modeling, we should firstly make the following simplifications and assumptions, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a12 =
v b11 =

F m ( I11

MR 2 mI 11 w MR ( LF m F + LM R m M R ) m u , b11 , = MR F MR ) + ( LF LMR ) 2 m F m MR + I 11 ) + ( LF LM R ) 2 m F m M R m ( I 11 + I 11

F m ( I 11

MR F F LMR m MR I 22 + I 33 m ( I 11 ) ( LF LM R ) 2 m F m MR , MR F MR 2 F MR bqr = F MR + I 11 ) + ( L L ) m m m ( I 11 + I 11 ) + ( LF LMR ) 2 m F m M R

, a21 = , b22 =
u b31 = v

MR MR 2mI11 w m u , b22 = F MR F MR F MR 2 F MR m( I 22 + I11 ) + ( L L ) m m m( I11 + I11 ) + ( LF LMR ) 2 m F m MR

MR F F m(I11 I11 + I33 ) + (LF LMR )2 mF mMR m , b = , pr F MR F MR m(I11 + I11 ) + (LF LMR )2 mF mMR ) + ( LF LMR ) 2 m F m MR m( I11 + I11

F F I11 I 22 LT 1 v , , b = = b pq 33 F MR F MR F MR I 33 + 2 I11 I 33 + 2 I11 I 33 + 2 I11

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Figure 2. Coupling relationship of the dynamic model

outputs). Thus there must be coupling existing between inputs and outputs. Coupling relationship of the dynamic model is shown in Fig.2. Inputs are on the left-hand side and outputs are on the right-hand side. The dotted line represents interferences such as side wind in control process. E1 is the dynamic equation that represents the helicopter rotating around f1 and f 2 ; E4 represents the controlling relationship between helicopters rotation around f 3 and pulling force of tail rotor; E2 represents the relationship between Euler attitude angle and rotation speed; and E3 is the displacement dynamic equation of the model. Therefore, the recursive tracking system state-space equation with side wind effect can be described by (5) X (k ) = a1 S (k ) + W2 (k )
(5) represents the interferences. In this paper, W1 (k 1) is defined as White Noise with zero mean value and identical correlation matrix (the autocorrelation function of the system). W2 (k ) is defined as White Noise with zero mean value and unit variance. In practical, values of these two variables are determined by dimension of the object matrix. Rearranging (5), state-space equations of helicopter based on Euler attitude angle ( , , ) and rotation speed ( p, q, r ) (these 6 state variables are crucial variables of helicopter hovering control as well) are given by (6) = AX + Bu X
W1 (k 1) W2 (k )

0 0 0 0 0 0 A= 0 0 0 0 0 0 X = , B = p q r

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 u b11 0 0

1 0 0 0 a21 0 0 0 0 0 u b22 0

0 1 0 a12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 v b33 0 0 0 0 v b22 0

0 0 1 0 0 0

, 0 0 0 v , b11 0 u b31

C is a 66 matrix representing W1 (k 1) , D is a 65 matrix representing W2 (k ) .And u = (T1MR T2MR T3MR T2TR F2TR )T is equivalent torque driven by 5 steering engines. III. DESIGN OF AIC CONTROL SYSTEM

S (k ) = a2 S (k 1) + W1 (k 1)

Y = CX + Du
Where,

(6)

A. Improvement of AIC Controller To some objects as special as helicopter, interferences elimination is important in maintaining their stability. At the same time, it also gives a difficulty in selecting proper control algorithms. In [14], the authors had presented a block diagram with disturbance canceller based on AIC theory. In the condition that the forward and inverse model are approximately ideal, the special structure of this disturbance canceller can push the transfer function from the input of noise to the system output to zero[15]-[17]. In other words, noise and interferences can be effectively inhibited at the system output. For this reason, in this paper, AIC theory is applied to the hovering control of helicopter which takes side wind into account. Unfortunately, the disturbance cancelling method in [14] cannot be directly applied to the helicopter system described in this paper---It can hardly idealize the system output. Above all, if using this method, the object can its model cannot be perfectly matched; In addition, for the systems without integral partthis method can improve the following performance, but for the systems with integral part, this method will add Static Error to the system output [18]-[20]; Besides, in order to deal with the interferences such as side wind, the controller must have a higher level of robust. In order to eliminate the interferences more effectively and further improve robust characteristic, a block diagram improved from the aforementioned controller is presented---the output difference between object and reference model is used as the input of disturbance

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canceller, as shown in Fig.3. The improved parts are marked by dotted-line frame. Complete structure of the open-air hovering controller with AIC is shown in Fig.4. The hardware structure and main flow chart of controller based on DSP(TMS320F2810) sampling and driving is shown in Fig.5

B. Algorithm of AIC Controller According to different optimal criteria, adaptive filtering algorithm can be classified into two basic parts Least Mean Square(LMS) algorithm and Recursive Least Square(RLS) algorithm. LMS algorithm is to minimize the mean 2 square error, E e ( n) , between filters output and expectation; RLS algorithm is to determine the weight coefficient vector of adaptive filter, W (n) , and minimize the weighted sum of square of estimate error,
J (n) = n i e(i )2
i =1 n

Figure 3. The improved diagram of the adaptive inverse control system

Where is forgetting factor and 0 < 1 . Simulation results show that, for the helicopter presented in this paper, LMS algorithm has a slow convergence rate and easily divergent. Therefore, RLS algorithm is used to identify the parameters of the controller and the reference model. The principle of parameter estimating by least square method is to choose a model in a class of ones, which has parameter (n) that can vector y(n) and estimated one y minimize the observation equations residual sum of squares. This residual sum of squares is described by (7)
J = e 2 (n + i ) = eT (n)e(n)
i =1 N

Figure 4. Complete structure of the open-air hovering controller with AIC

(n) . This equation indicates Where e(n) = y(n) y that using RLS algorithm to estimate parameter only needs simple matrix operation. It effectively reduces the requirement of hardware and improves the calculation efficiency.

(7)

Figure 5. The hardware structure and main flow chart of controller based on DSP(TMS320F2810) sampling and drivin

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TABLE I. Para.
mF m
MR

SYSTEM PARAMETER VALUES OF

HELICOPTER

Values 4.4 0.25 4.9 0.77 73.33 1.375 0.245 0.505 0 0.25

Unit
Kg Kg

Parameter declaration Mass of airframe Mass of main rotor(Single blade) Total mass of helicopter Equivalent radius of main motor Rotation speed of main motor Length of airframe Breadth of airframe Height of airframe Distance between centroid of airframe and origin Distance between rotation axis of main rotor and origin Distance between centroid of tail rotor and origin Moment of inertia conducted by main motor rotating around T1MR Moment of inertia conducted by airframe rotating around f1 Moment of inertia conducted by airframe rotating around f 2 Moment of inertia conducted by airframe rotating around f3

A=

0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 0 0 0

0 1 0 0 0 102.5 20.38 0 0 0

m R MR

Kg m

B=

MR

rad / s

m m m m

W
H

LF LMR

LT
MR I11

0.93 0.03706

Kg m2

F I11

0.1155

Kg m2

F I 22

0.7867

Kg m2

F I 33

0.7152

Kg m2

C. Establishment of platform and experiment implementation Values of system parameters in this experiment are shown in Tab.1. For the previous assumption (3), there MR MR is I11 = I 22 . And when helicopter in the state of hovering, , approximate to zero, then sin , sin , cos 1 , cos 1 . If neglecting the first-order and second order zero entries, we u can get a12 = 102.5 , a21 = 20.38 , b11 = 0.3752 , v u v u b11 = 0.07657 , b22 = b22 = 1.194 , b31 = 1.178 , v b33 = 1.266 . Therefore, in the state of hovering, the values of matrix A and B in equation (6) are

When the changes of Euler attitude angles are small (within /36 rad = 5 ), it is clear that the previous approximations are proper; However, for larger ones, it may be inaccurate. So there is a motivation to launch an experiment to test the limitation of helicopters anti-sidewind ability. The result shows that this resistibility is about four-level. In other words, if the force of side wind is below four-level, the helicopter stays in an ideal state of hovering. Further, the transfer function of hovering state can be obtained by applying the Laplace transform to corresponding state-space equation. Using this transfer function and MATLABSimulink, contrastive simulation results under side-wide effect (about 3-level) of AIC-RLS and PID methods can be obtained. These results, analyzing state parameters----pitch angle , roll angle , travel angle and rotation speed p , q , r respectively, are shown in Fig. 6(next page, red curve: AIC-RLS ; green curve: PID). Initial state of helicopter in this simulation is described by ( , , )=(0.035 -0.08 0.015)and 0 0), where the angles are countered ( p, q, r )=(0 in rad and rotation speed are countered in rad / s . The expectation of helicopter control (blue curve) is to make the helicopter recover from the effect of interferences as quick as possible. In other words, to make ( , , ) and ( p, q, r ) back to zero swiftly. These simulation results show that all these parameters can be back to expectation values within 2.5s. This margin is notably superior to that of PID method, which is widely used as control method of nowadays unmanned helicopter. Therefore, in terms of resistibility of interferences, PID method has relative larger overshoot so that its convergence rate is slower. That means its following performance is not as good as AIC method. In order to bring off the hovering experiment successfully and reduce the possibility of accidental damage and injury, an experimental platform is set up. The sketch diagram of flight experimental platform is shown in Fig.7. Unmanned helicopter installed on this platform can have three-dimensional orthogonal rotational degree of freedom (DOF). A vertical tube with two linear bearings in it is tied to a horizontal

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.07657 0.3752 0 0 0 1.194 1.194 0 0 1.266 0 1.178

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Figure 6. contrastive simulation results under side-wide effect(about 3-level) of AIC-RLS and PID methods

EFGH by two axles and can rotate around EF(pitch angle). Finally, a U-frame IJKL is connected to ABCD using another two axles and its rotation around IJ represents the roll angle. An open-air hovering experiment in test platform is done under side wind effect (3-4 level) and the picture of experiment installation is shown in Fig.8. IV. CONCLUSIONS A newly helicopter control method based on AIC theory and RLS algorithm is proposed in this paper. This AIC-RLS method has a good following performance, keeping the state variables of hovering attitude in step with expectation(Fig 6). Also, in terms of resistibility of interferences, the proposed method is better than PID controller(Fig.3) as its feedback is entirely used to eliminate the interferences. Based on AIC-RLS method, an open air hovering control is achieved on a self-built flight experimental platform, completing early attempt for researching of relative production. REFERENCE
[1] Ng A Y, Coates A, Diel M, et a1. Inverted autonomous helicopter flight via reinforcement learning, Experimental Robotics IX, vol. 21, pp. 363-372 ,2006. Remu V MARVIN(multi-purpose aerial robot vehicle with intelligent navigation),An autonomously operating flying robot, http://pdv.cs.tu-berlin.de/MARVIN/ 2006-04-01 [2006-05-01]. WANG Xiao-qing, HUANG Yi-min, SUN Chuan-wei. Attitude Control System Design for Unmanned Helicopter in Hover, Journal of Nanjing University of AeronauticsAstronautics,vol.40(5), pp.583-588, 2008. CAI Wen-lan, WANG Jun-sheng, SHUI Hai-tao, et a1. Control for Unmanned Helicopter Hovering Based on Sarsa Algorithm, Ordnance Industry Automation, vol.26, no.7, pp.54-56, 2007.

Figure 7. The sketch diagram of flight experimental platform

[2]

Figure 8. Open-air hovering experiment in test platform

[3]

pedestal (assuming the pedestal is x-y plane and the tube is z axis). And a straight shaft MN can move upside down along this tube. A U-frame EFGH is tied to MN through an axle and can rotate around MN in x-y plane (travel angle). Then, a rectangular-frame ABCD is attached to

[4]

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