title: Robust Decentralized Nonlinear Control for a Twin Rotor MIMO System.
abstract: This article presents the design of a novel decentralized nonlinear multivariate control scheme for an underactuated, nonlinear and multivariate laboratory helicopter denominated the twin rotor MIMO system (TRMS). The TRMS is characterized by a coupling effect between rotor dynamics and the body of the model, which is due to the action-reaction principle originated in the acceleration and deceleration of the motor-propeller groups. The proposed controller is composed of two nested loops that are utilized to achieve stabilization and precise trajectory tracking tasks for the controlled position of the generalized coordinates of the TRMS. The nonlinear internal loop is used to control the electrical dynamics of the platform, and the nonlinear external loop allows the platform to be perfectly stabilized and positioned in space. Finally, we illustrate the theoretical control developments with a set of experiments in order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear decentralized feedback controller, in which a comparative study with other controllers is performed, illustrating the excellent performance of the proposed robust decentralized control scheme in both stabilization and trajectory tracking tasks.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain. LidiaMaria.Belmonte@uclm.es.
authors.forename: Lidia María
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Belmonte
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain. Rafael.Morales@uclm.es.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Ingenieros Industriales de Albacete, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain. Antonio.Fdez@uclm.es.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Caballero
authors.affiliation: Escuela T&#233;cnica Superior de Ingenieros Navales, Universidad Polit&#233;cnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain. joseandres.somolinos@upm.es.
authors.forename: José Andrés
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Somolinos
keywords: Euler–Lagrange model; TRMS; decentralized control; nonlinear control; time-scale model