Variance Constrained Control of Maneuvering Helicopters

In this paper the performance of variance constrained controllers on complex control oriented physics based helicopter models that include effects typically ignored in control models, such as an analytical formulation for fuselage aerodynamics, blade lead-lagging and flexibility, and tail rotor aerodynamics, is investigated. For this purpose the nonlinear models are linearized around specific maneuvering flight conditions. Closed loop responses of many linearized helicopter model states and all helicopter controls are given after applying output variance constrained controller (OVC) and input variance constrained controller (IVC) separately. These controllers performances are compared. Furthermore, closed loop stability robustness of both OVCs and IVCs are thoroughly evaluated by varying helicopter's flight speed and all inertial parameters