Attitude control of a helicopter model by robust PID controllers

In this paper, the attitude control, by PID controllers, of a helicopter model with two degrees of freedom is considered. Cross-coupling in the system being neglected, dynamics of elevation and azimuth are independently considered and PID controllers are designed separately. It is then shown that pairs of PID controllers can stabilize the whole system and fulfil the step tracking. Starting a PID controller thus obtained, robust PID controllers are designed iteratively based on the method of Miyamoto. Experimental results show that the final controller stabilizes the whole helicopter model and gives satisfactory performances in step tracking