2006 IEEE International Conference on

Systems, Man, and Cybernetics

October 8-11, 2006, Taipei, Taiwan

Nonlinear Flight Control of a Two-Degree-of-Freedom Helicopter

Using Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model
Gwo-Ruey Yu and S. H. Chen

Abstract-This paper presents the nonlinear flight control for margins of 60 degrees or more [2]. Furthermore, we
attitudes of a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) helicopter. A employed the stability conditions to guarantee the stability of
Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is employed to approximate the fuzzy system throughout the LMIs [7]. Finally, the
the nonlinear 2DOF helicopter. The model-based fuzzy concept of parallel distributed compensation (PDC) is applied
controller is designed via parallel distributed compensation to integrate the linear controllers as fuzzy mixing the linear
(PDC). The linear quadratic regulator (LQR) technique is
applied to control the input voltage of two DC motors such that models with each percentage [8]. Computer simulations and
the attitudes of an experimental helicopter are tracked. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the
linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are carried out to guarantee nonlinear control technology.
the stability of the nonlinear controller. Computer simulations
and experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the II. THE NONLINEAR MATHEMATICAL MODEL
nonlinear flight control.
The mathematical model of the 2DOF helicopter includes
I. INTRODUCTION the aerodynamic force and propeller dynamics. This plant is a
Helicopter is a kind of transportation that rises and lands multi-dimensional and nonlinear unstable model with two
perpendicularly. It is an aerial conveyer. The helicopters can manipulated inputs and two measured outputs.
take-off and land in the small area without a strip and won't According to Newton's second law, the longitudinal
be limited by the landforms. For this reason, it is convenient dynamic equation of the 2DOF helicopter is represented as:
to rescue disasters and transport. Today, the helicopter is used M~ M f d2p
= (1)
extensively. Therefore, it is important to study the control of a Pdt2
helicopter. where p is the pitch angle relative to the horizontal axis. Mp is
However, the control system of a helicopter is generally a the total torques exerted on the fuselage due to the force about
nonlinear system. In [1], the authors applied the nonlinear the pitch axis. The torque is caused of three kinds of forces.
predictive control algorithm and introduced the generalized The first is the gravity and represented as follows:
predictive control (GPC) to design a controller of a 2DOF
helicopter. In [3], the inverse complementary sliding mode MP, g{= n h X-+Mf++Mnfg ±m, x8lL
control and terminal sliding mode control methodologies are
designed to perform the tracking performance utilizing a (2 x2 -+M
+ b + hMbK +mn
+sx8Lx8jILj
nonlinear twin rotor multi-input multi-output system (TRMS).
In this investigation, we employ a simple and natural method + ((mbOd,1 + mf +imb +mfg + mbg +ms x 16)R )Icos p (2)
to design a controller to control the nonlinear system, which is Let
so-called Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model [9].
Recently, there have been a lot of researches in the AKboA x-+mf +Mfg +m, x8)L (3)
Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model [3], [4], [10]. They offer a
systematic procedure to design controllers of nonlinear (4)
systems. The first step is to approximate the nonlinear system B 2 2
22
via Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model. This process can divide the
nonlinear system into several linear subsystems. Since the C=(Mbod,, + Mf +mb +Mfg +mbg+inxl6)Rc (5)
nonlinear system is represented in Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy where mf and Mb are the mass of the front motor and back
model, the linear control theories have been introduced to motor respectively. The symbol Mbody, is the mass of acrylic
design the controller. fuselage. The symbol mfg is the mass of guard of the front
In this paper, we design the linear controller utilizing LQR propeller and mbg is the mass of back one. The symbol m,
technique. The advantages ofthis design are the optimal gains, means the mass of screw. Thus, we can rewrite the torque that
which have gain margins from 0.5 to infinity and phase generated by the gravity as:
This work was supported in part by the National Science Council of the
MPI = g[(A - B) + C] cos p (6)
Republic of China, under Grant NSC 94-2213-E-197-004-. The second torque is generated by the centrifugal force about
Gwo-Ruey Yu and S. H. Chen are with the Electrical Engineering the yaw axis as follows:
Department, National Ilan University, Ilan City, Taiwan (e-mail:
gwoyu@niu.edu.tw). M2=- A(L + BL + CRC sin p cos p (7)

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4354
where y is the yaw angle relative to the yaw axis. III. NONLINEAR CONTROLLER DESIGN
The third torque generated by the front propeller is In this paper, we employ the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model
Mp3 =-LFP cos p = -LCJvj cos p (8) to approximate the nonlinear 2DOF helicopter model. This
where Cf is the pitch motor force constant. The total rotational fuzzy modeling method can divide the nonlinear system into
inertias Jp consist of the rotational inertia of front motor (Jpl), several linear systems and the overall fuzzy model of the
back motor (Jp2), the guard of front propeller (Jp3), the guard system is performed as fuzzy intermix of the linear systems.
of back propeller (Jp4) and acrylic fuselage (Jp5) that rotate The Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is described by fuzzy
about the pitch axis. IF-THEN rules. Each rule describes the input-output relative
Hence, Eq.(l) could be rewritten as ofthe local linear system and the fuzzy system is expressed as
follow:
3
M = d 2p (9) Rule i: IF z, (t) is M,. and Zn (t) is min
We also consider the Newton's second law, the lateral - A,x(t) + Biu(t)
THEN j i (17)
dynamic equation of 2DOF helicopter is represented as: y(t) = Cjx(t)
M J d2y (10) where i = 1,2,. .r and r is the number of IF-THEN
'.dt2
v

rules, A, e 9 ,nXnX xT x2(= [X() x2(), ...,xn ()] is the state

where M,, is the total torques exerted on fuselage due to the
force about the pitch axis and is as follows: variables, B, 9nxm X, uT (t) = [u1 (t) u2 (t), * ,XUn (t)] , u(t) E
E

M, = LF, cos y = LChvb cosY (11)
where the Cb is the back motor force constant and Vb is the
input voltage of back motor.
The total rotational inertias J,, consist of the rotational
inertia of front motor (J,,j), back motor (J,,2), the guard of front
is the control inputs,zI(t)tozn(t) are the premise variables
and ME, to M in are the corresponding fuzzy sets. Using the
center of gravity method for defuzzification, the
Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is represented as
r

propeller (Jy3), the guard of back propeller (J,,4) and acrylic E w; (z(t)){Aix(t) + B,u(t)}
fuselage (Jy5) that rotate about the yaw axis. Therefore, (10) Xi(t) = r

could be rewritten as wi (Zi (t))

i=l
(12)
jM dtY = hi (z(t)){Aix(t) + B,u(t)}
i=l
(18)
According to (9) and (12), we substitute the coefficients as
the parameters, the nonlinear dynamic equations of the 2DOF y(t) =
E hi(z(t))Cix(t) (19)
i=l
helicopter are obtained where
n
{j3= 26.4348 cos p - (I.147 sin p cos p)y - 6.3532v(1 Wi (z(t)) = j7Mij (zj (t))
(20)
l 3 .4254vb ( 13) j=l

cos p (21)
hi (z(t)) = si (z(t))
Equation (13) could be rewritten in the state-space form: L Wi (z(t))
i=l
for all t and Mi (zj (t)) is the fuzzy membership grade of

zj (t) in M,. In this paper, we assume that E w (z(t)) > 0

0 0

for all t and w, (z(t)) >0, i = 1,2,... r. Hence, hi (z(t)) = 1

for all t and h, (z(t)) 0, i = 1,2,r.

>

There exists a coefficient between Mp3 and Mp is Since the consequent parts of Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models
M = pMp3 (15) are represented as the linear subsystems, the linear control
Thus, (14) is rewritten as theorem can be addressed in the design procedure. We apply
the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) to design fuzzy
0 0
controllers to stabilize fuzzy systems. In the PDC design,
0 0 (1+,p)Mp3 0 fuzzy controller shares the same premise parts with the
0
mp2 fP
0 0
Jp SVf 1(I16) Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model. For the (17), the fuzzy
My LVb controller is designed by PDC as follow:
0 0 1
Jy
Control Rule i: IF z, (t) is M, ...and z, (t) isM,,
00 0 LY
1

0 0 THEN u(t) =-Kix(t) (22)

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for i = 1,2,. . r. The overall fuzzy controller is represented as
follow: X(t) =ZZEhj(z(t))hj
i=l j=l
(z(t)){A, BFj i(t)- (36)
n
wwi (z(t))Ki x(t)
To analyze the stability of fuzzy control system, we apply
the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) to check whether the
u(t) = n -E hi (z(t))K x(t) stability conditions are satisfied.
i=l
I Wi (z(t)) Lemma: The equilibrium of a fuzzy system (36) is globally
i=l
asymptotically stable if there exists a common positive
In this investigation, we introduce the linear quadratic
definite matrix P such that the following two conditions are
regulator (LQR) to search the feedback gain Ki. Consider (17),
satisfied [4], [8]:
we define the performance index function be
{Aj -BiK,}P+P{Ai -BjKj}<O (37)
x(T)S, )x(T) +-I (XTQiX +UT R jU)dt (24)
I
Ji = 22 GTP+ PG, <0 (38)
where Si is the finial-state weighting function (semi-positive where
definite matrix), Qi is state variable weighting function 1+ tAj - BjK }
(positive definite matrix), Ri is the control-energy weighting G = {As - BjKj (39)
function (positive definite matrix) and Tis the time interval of
ii
~~2
control action.
for i=1,2.* ,r , i<j<rs.t.hi r=nhi .0. This is a convex
To minimize the performance index function, define the feasibility problem. The feasibility problem can be solved by
Hamiltonian function numerical mathematical program.
H I-(XTQix+ UTR,u) +2iT (A,x + B,u) (25) IV. COMPUtTER SIMULATION
where A is the Lagrange multipliers. The Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model can approximate the
The partial derivatives give the optimal control law: nonlinear system and transform into several linear
aH = Riu + B2-TA_0 (26) subsystems on previous description and is employed to the
au attitude control of the 2DOF helicopter. The design algorithm
The necessary conditions for optimality are the state and is divided into five steps and is summarized as follows:
co-state equations: Step 1. Construct the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model:
In this study, we consider (16) in three cases. Because the
x= a X+Bu (27) range of pitch angle of the 2DOF helicopter is from 00 to 760,
the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is represented in pitch angle
i = _ aH= _Qix - AirA
T(28) about 40, 400 and 760, respectively.
ax Step 2. Choose the weighting matrix Qi and Ri:
Solving (25) and (26) yields the optimal control: The weighting matrices are selected to minimize the
u(t) = -R-'B 2Ti(t) (29) performance index function (24). The weighting Qi is
Substituting (29) into (27), we obtain: symmetric, positive semi-definite matrix. It is utilized to
i(t) = Aix(t) - BiRi,'BiT(t) (30) regulate the states. The weighting Ri is symmetric, positive
Thus, the homogeneous Hamiltonian system is semi-definite matrix. It is utilized to regulate the control
energy. After choosing the weighting matrices, (35) could be
[x] A -BIRi 'Bij[ (31)
solved. The optimal gain Ki is obtained by (34). The optimal
control law offers the structure of fuzzy controller in (33).
Taking into account the boundary conditions Step 3. Check the stability of fuzzy systems:
2(T) = Si (T)x(T) (32) In this investigation, the LMIs are employed to check the
and solving (14) give the optimal control stability of fuzzy control system. If the fuzzy control system
u(t) = -Kix(t) (33) is satisfied (37) and (38) and exists the common positive
such that the performance index J is minimized. The definite matrix P, the fuzzy control system is globally
state-feedback matrix Ki is the Kalman gain asymptotically stable.
Step 4. Find the PDC control law:
Ki = R,-'B TS, (34) Since the controllers are satisfied (37) and (38), the PDC
where S, is the solution of the algebraic Riccati equation offers a procedure to construct the PDC control law.
(A.R.E.) Step 5. Computer simulation
ATS +S,A -S,BR 'B[S +Qi =-0 (35) The pitch angle and yaw angle of 2DOF helicopter are
Obviously, the optimal control performance will depend on simulated using Matlab Simulink. The maximum value
the choice of the weighting matrices. cannot exceed the upper limit. If the response of helicopter is
Substituting (23) into (18), the fuzzy system is represented not satisfied with the desired specification, the selection of
as: weighting matrices will iterate in step 2.

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 We define three rules of fuzzy model to approximate the
nonlinear system as follows:
Rule 1: IF p(t) is 40 1
THEN x(t) = A,x(t) + B, (t) (40)
Rule 2: IF p(t) is 400
THEN i(t) - A2x(t) + B2 (t) (41)
Rule 3: IFp(t) is 760
THEN x(t) - A3x(t) + B3 (t) (42)
4 40 76
where p(t) is pitch angle, and
~0 1 0 0 0 0 Fig. 1. Membership functions of three-rule model.
A 0 0 0 -0.0798xj B 5 .1404 0
30' ''-'----I5Ir
-

0 0 0 0 0 3.4338.
0 1 0 0 01 25

° ° ° -0.5648 X B2= 2.1714

A0= 0 0@ 20
O O 0 1 O O m 15
-0 0 0 0 0 4.4716- -c
0 1 0 0 O O s 10
3 ° ° -0.2692 0.2554 0 5
A3- 03
-00 0 0 0 14.15931 u
10 20 30
Time(Sec.)
40 50
The membership functions for Rule 1 to Rule 3 are illustrated
in Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Pitch response in casel.
The weighting matrices Q, and R, are chosen as
Q, = diag[5xlO' 106 5x104 2.5x105] (43)
Q2=diag[3.8x10' 6x10'0 I07 2x107] (44)
Q3 = diag[108 107 108 108] (45)
R -R 2= R3 diag[1O3 103]
-
(46) 41
The algebraic Riccati equation is solved and calculated (34), 0
0)

the optimal gain K, is obtained as

(U

",ilo VNA ... .:

11,910 - --- 1 1i II
...owimioi UK,-

[0.3903 0.5543 0.0000 -0.0002] (47) 0

[-0.0001
--0.0001 0.1234 0.2782 j
K 34.0227 42.7581 0.0003 - 0.0041 (48) 0I
K2-=48
[ 0.0066 -0.0084 1.7453 2.4710 j
0 20 30
10 40 50
Time(Sec.)
[ 5.5192 1.9495 0.0181 -0.0001 (49) Fig. 3. Input voltage of front motor in case .
3 -0.0181 -0.0062 5.5192 5.5204]
Substituting (47), (48) and (19)
into (37) and (38), we obtain a --------- T -- - - - - - - - -
common positive definite matrix P such that:
~
0.0430 0.0002 - 0.0001 - 0.0000
P 0.0002 0.0003 - 0.0000 - 0.0000 (50) ='2020!
- 0.0001 - 0.0000 0.0485 0.0004
m 15
-0.0000 - 0.0000 0.0004 0.0004
It means that the system is globally asymptotically stable.
After computer simulation, the responses of 2DOF
helicopter are shown in Fig. 2>9.
In casel, we specific
the
pitch angle as 300
and the yaw angle is 300. In wecase2,
0o 10 20 30 40 50
specific the pitch angle as 600 and the yaw angle is 450. Time(Sec.)
Obviously, the fuzzy controller can regulate the states of
2DOF helicopter very well. Fig. 4. Yaw response in casel

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 II 1U1i I

4
3 10
0 2 40

a)1 a) 5
(u m
0

-1
-2
_q-s-}-
I1
-c 10 20 30 40 5D
Time(Sec.)
Fig. 5. Input voltage of back motor in casel. Fig. 9. Input voltage of back motor in casel
601 ----------

V. EXPERIMENT RESULT
50
To demonstrate the effectives of fuzzy controller, a 2DOF
0 40 helicopter simulator is used as the platform. The helicopter is
a)
1-1
0) made in Quanser Company of Canada [11]. The components
t) 30-
include a helicopter plant on a fixed base, two power modules
(U20
c 2
52
CL
(Universal Power Module UPM2405 and UPM1503) and a
terminal board (MultiQ-PCI Terminal Board). There is a data
10 acquisition card (MultiQ- PCI data acquisition card)
assembled in the PC computer. The MultiQ-PCI data
10 20 30 40 5() acquisition card installed on computer supports 48 IO
Time(Sec.) channels.
Fig. 6. Pitch response in case2. The helicopter has two propellers driven by DC motors
(front motor and back motor) in the plant and measures the
35 longitudinal and lateral electrical signals through the slip ring
30 on the base. There are two power modules to offer motor
25 voltage in the system. The UPM2405 is used for the pitch
motor and the UPM1503 is used for the yaw motor. The
0 20
maximum input voltage is limited to 5 voltages.
ad 15 Fig. 10 13 shows the experimental responses of the 2DOF
3 10 helicopter. In this flight experiment, the pitch angle is specific
5
in 30° and yaw angle is specific in 300. Although there is an
overshoot about 2 degrees in the lateral response, the steady
0
state error is not over + 1 degree. The results evidences that
10_1 20 30 40 5 the fuzzy controller works out in the nonlinear flight control
Time(Sec.) of the 2DOF helicopter.
Fig. 7. Input voltage of front motor in case2. izi
3).C.6

45 1 . _ _ _ __ 330 -- $- -

40
0 2!0- __
------------
0(
0
(D

--.---
a) 30
0 D 21
1-5a) <
U 1
J_)
0 5
-------------
10 15-20- 25 -0 35 40 45 .-
c 20
CU
>-10 l-
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
[lS

10 20 30 40 50 Time(Sec.)
Time(Sec.)
Fig. 10. Flight response in pitch channel.
Fig. 8. Yaw response in case2.

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 q.
lateral attitudes of the 2DOF helicopter using the concept of
parallel distributed compensation (PDC). Both computer
8 ------------------------------- -- ---
simulations and experimental results manifest the
7 ---------------------- ------------------------------ effectiveness of proposed strategy.
6 ---------------------- ------------------------------

REFERENCES
C13
-!=! 4 [I] A. S. Dutka, A. W. Ordys and M. J. Grimble, "Non-linear Predictive
0 Control of 2 dof helicopter model," Proceedings of' 42th IEEE
Conference on Decision and Control, Maui, Hawaii, USA, December
2003.
[2] M. R. Issa and E. Barbieri, "Optimal PI-Lead Controller Design," IEEE
I---,
---- I -------I --------
I----- Proc. System Theory, pp. 364-368, 1996.
o
[3] J. P. Su, C. Y. Liang, and H. M. Chen, "Robust Control of a Class of
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Nonlinear Systems and Its Application to a Twin Rotor MIMO
Time(Sec.) System," Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE International Conference on
Industrial Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, December 2002.
Fig. 1 1. Input voltage of front motor in case of flight [4] K. Tanaka and M. Sano, "A Robust stabilization problem of fuzzy
experiment. control systems and its application to backing up control of a
truck-trailer," IEEE Trans. Fuzzy Systems, Vol.2, No.2, pp.1 19-134,
1994.
'~l.I
[5] K. Tanaka, T. Taniguchi and H. 0. Wang, "Model-based Fuzzy Control
30
for Two Trailers Problems: Stability Analysis and Design via Linear
Matrix Inequalities," Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International
25 Conference on Fuzzy Systems, July 1997.
ci) [6] H. 0. Wang and K. Tanaka, "An LMI-based Stable Fuzzy Control of
o 20 ---
Nonlinear Systems and its Application to Control of Chaos,"
0) 15
Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy
C: System, September 1996.
B 10 ----------------------
[7] H. 0. Wang, K. Tanaka and M. Griffin, "An Analytical Framework of
Fuzzy Modeling and Control of Nonlinear Systems: Stability and
Design Issues, " Proceedings of the American Control Conference,
Seattle, Washington, June 1995.
0 --------------
[8] H. 0. Wang, K. Tanaka and M. Griffin, " Parallel Distributed
Ah,I
Compensation ofNonlinear Systems by Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Model,"
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems,
Time(Sec.) March 1995.
[9] H. 0. Wang, K. Tanaka and M. Griffin, " An Approach to Fuzzy
Fig. 12. Flight response in yaw channel. Control of Nonlinear Systems: Stability and Design Issues," IEEE
Transaction on Fuzzy Systems, Vol.4, No.1, February 1996.
[10] H. N. Wu, "Reliable LQ Fuzzy Control for Continuous-Time Nonlinear
Systems With Actuator Faults," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man,
n 4v r s- - --n------n -r------ r-- --- --
--
and Cybernetics-Part B. Cybernetic, Vol.34, No.4, August 2004.
[11] Quanser Consulting Inc. User manualfor 2DOF Helicopter, 2000

J) ----T------ -------
--------I------ I------ I------I-,------ I-------,I-----
201 . . . .
-2
2 -~~~~~v~~~~~-n-~~~~~~~~~~~~-r----- -------r------r-----
3_
41

0 6 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time(Sec.)
Fig. 13. Input voltage of back motor in case of flight
experiment.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model is employed to
approximate the nonlinear 2DOF helicopter model. The
optimal LQR gain is applied to control the input voltage of
two DC motors such that the attitudes of an experimental
helicopter are tracked. The linear matrix inequalities (LMIs)
are carried out to guarantee the stability of the nonlinear
controller. The fuzzy controller regulates the longitudinal and

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