A fast inverse kinematic solution for the nonlinear actuating mechanisms of a small-scale helicopter

An inverse kinematic solution for the main rotor actuating mechanism of a small-scale helicopter that includes a four-point swashplate system and a Bell–Hiller mixer and the tail rotor actuating mechanism are derived using an approach that is suitable for real-time control applications. A closed-form solution is obtained for the inverse kinematics of the swashplate mechanism and for the forward and inverse kinematics of the tail rotor. Then, a computationally efficient solution is obtained for the inverse kinematics of the Bell–Hiller mixer by converting the nonlinear kinematic equations into a generalized eigenvalue problem. The nonlinear kinematic model is compared to a linear approximation and is validated using experiments.

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