Control of the Toycopter Using a Flat Approximation

This paper considers a helicopter-like setup called the Toycopter. Its particularities reside first in the fact that the toycopter motion is constrained to remain on a sphere and second in the use of a variable rotational speed of the propellers to vary the propeller thrust. A complete model using L...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on control systems technology 2008-09, Vol.16 (5), p.882-896
Main Authors: Mullhaupt, Philippe, Srinivasan, Balasubrahmanyan, Levine, Jean, Bonvin, Dominique
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Approximation
Automatic
Automatic control
Blades
Computer science
control theory
systems
Control system synthesis
Control systems
Control theory. Systems
Couplings
Design engineering
Engineering Sciences
Exact sciences and technology
Flat systems
Force control
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Gain
Helicopters
Lagrange mechanics
Lagrangian functions
Mathematical analysis
Motion control
nonlinear control
Nonlinear control systems
Physics
Propellers
Rotational
Simulation
Solid dynamics (ballistics, collision, multibody system, stabilization...)
Solid mechanics
underactuated mechanical system
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper considers a helicopter-like setup called the Toycopter. Its particularities reside first in the fact that the toycopter motion is constrained to remain on a sphere and second in the use of a variable rotational speed of the propellers to vary the propeller thrust. A complete model using Lagrangian mechanics is derived. The Toycopter is shown to be nondifferentially flat. Nevertheless, by neglecting specific cross-couplings, a differentially flat approximation can be generated and used for controller design, provided the controller gains do not exceed certain bounds that are given explicitly. The achieved performance is better than with standard linear controllers, especially during large displacements that induce strong nonlinear gyroscopical forces. The results are illustrated both in simulation and experimentally on the setup.
ISSN:1063-6536
1558-0865
DOI:10.1109/TCST.2007.916333