Transition management for the smooth flight of a small autonomous helicopter

This work is centered in the definition of a transition management system for a small autonomous helicopter based on trajectory smoothing and a finite state machine (FSM). A smooth flight schedule decreases transients originated by direction changes and flight mode transitions (e.g., horizontal flight to hover mode). Although previous works have presented trajectory generation and FSM oriented controls, no previous studies have mixed these approaches in a single framework together with speed transitions. The proposed methods are validated in simulation with a realistic dynamic model of a small helicopter. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V