Quadrotor Helicopter Flight Dynamics and Control: Theory and Experiment

Quadrotor helicopters are emerging as a popular platform for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) research, due to the simplicity of their construction and maintenance, their ability to hover, and their vertical take off and landing (VTOL) capability. Current designs have often considered only nominal operating conditions for vehicle control design. This work seeks to address issues that arise when deviating significantly from the hover flight regime. Aided by well established research for helicopter flight control, three separate aerodynamic effects are investigated as they pertain to quadrotor flight, due to vehicular velocity, angle of attack, and airframe design. They cause moments that affect attitude control,…