Wind field bounded error identification and robust guidance law design for a small-scaled helicopter

Abstract This study addresses the problem of enhancing the safety of the helicopter flight in presence of atmospheric perturbation. The proposed approach is based on the coupled design of a wind estimator and a guidance law. A model of the UAV is first described, including potential effects of wind. A short description of the proposed strategy is then detailed. The design of a navigation law taking wind into account is after that addressed. The guidance and control laws are afterward described. Identification of the state vector representing the UAV is performed using a set estimation technique in order to characterize the variation boundaries of the flight induced by the presence of wind. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the obtained results.