3-DOF Helicopter Controller

I developed a control system for an under-actuated 3-DOF helicopter with two propellers for autonomous trajectory control.

Key achievements:

• Enabled SIL testing by developing a nonlinear dynamical force and torque based model class for simulating a 3-DOF helicopter using MATLAB and Simulink with vector maths
• Cut overshoot to under 5% utilizing cascaded control loops with PID controllers and implemented it in Simulink
• Linearized the elevation axis while simultaneously reducing the reliance on the integral term eliminating oscillations
• Added a feed-forward compensator using an experimentally derived thrust vs. elevation angle curve
• Implemented a force mixer to compute motor thrusts from net thrust and differential thrust prioritizing pitch control