Small unmanned helicopter flight controller design by use of integral MPC and adaptive backstepping

Considering the structural features of unmanned helicopters, the present paper designs a hierarchical inner-outer loop-based flight controller. The outer loop employs model predictive controller to track the reference trajectory, while the inner loop controller is designed by means of adaptive backstepping techniques that allow stabilization of the attitude. The obtained control method takes advantage of both controllers and it is simple and easy to implement in future real flight test. Finally, the computer simulations are conducted to illustrate the tracking performance of the proposed control method in the presence of disturbances and model errors.