Flight Control Law Design and Development for an Autonomous Rotorcraft

The increasing presence of UAVs in Army operations necessitates a flexible platform to demonstrate and develop UAV technologies. The primary purpose of the Autonomous Rotorcraft Project (ARP) is to provide a platform to do so in the context of exploiting the unique capabilities of VTOL vehicles. Fulfilling this purpose required the development a fully autonomous flight control system. This paper describes the design and development of this system. Several aspects of the development are discussed including design requirements, topology, software development, simulation testing, and final flight testing.