Modeling and Sliding Mode Control of a Micro Helicopter-Airplane System

This paper presents the regulation and trajectory tracking for a Micro Coaxial Rocket Helicopter (MCR UAV), as well as the control of a mini aircraft. The former vehicle has the characteristic of performing hover and forward flight while the latter vehicle is considered as an external air transporter for the MCR UAV. For control purposes, the helicopter stabilization is based on sliding mode controllers which avoid the chattering generated during the flight and allow the MCR UAV to perform tracking of smooth trajectories, Furthermore a PD controller stabilizes the aircraft in order to execute semi-autonomous flight. A flight computer for these aerial vehicles consists of a homemade embedded system, low-cost sensors, and signal conditioning circuits, analog filters and actuator. The proposed control algorithms are implemented on the embedded system. Simulation and experimental results show the good performance of the developed system during the flight.