Robust MIMO H∞ Integral-Backstepping PID Controller for Hovering Control of Unmanned Model Helicopter

The problem of stabilization of a model helicopter in a hover configuration subject to parametric uncertainty and external disturbances is addressed. Multiinput multioutput (MIMO) proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control law is reformulated into a full-state feedback control law to synthesize the controller by using robust H-infinity control theory. In full-state feedback representation, PID control has implicit integral-backstepping structure. Therefore a new parameter, rho, can be introduced that acts on the derivative of the control signal. The parameters of MIMO PID controller are then obtained with solving the algebraic Riccati equation with selecting the values of rho and gamma. Model helicopter simulation is carried out to verify the performance of the proposed controller to stabilize the uncertain helicopter model and to suppress external disturbances. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)AS.1943-5525.0000074. (C) 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.