Laser-based trajectory tracking H2 control of autonomous rotorcraft

This paper proposes a laser-based trajectory tracking control methodology for rotorcraft operation in environments where absolute position measurements are unavailable or unreliable. Laser-based nonlinear kinematics are formulated in three-dimensions space, and a trajectory-dependent error space is defined to express the dynamic model of the vehicle and the laser-based kinematics. A linear parameter varying (LPV) representation with piecewise affine dependence on the parameters is introduced to model the error dynamics over a set of predefined operating regions. The synthesis problem is stated as a continuous-time H2 control problem, solved using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and implemented within the scope of gain-scheduling control theory. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is assessed in simulation using the full nonlinear model of a small-scale helicopter.