Design of Unmanned Helicopter Distributed Electric Tail Rotor Controller Based on Improved Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Abstract

In response to the critical implications of single tail rotor failures in unmanned helicopters, this study proposes a distributed electric tail rotor yaw channel controller that employs Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) techniques. A dynamics model was created for an unmanned helicopter with a distributed electric tail rotor. This model was then employed to verify the yaw channel tracking performance of the helicopter through simulation. The verification process involved the use of a cascaded dual closed-loop active disturbance rejection control strategy. The ADRC framework was enhanced by developing an improved fal function to replace the conventional fal function. This addressed the challenges of excessive error gain and overshoot oscillation in the Extended State Observer (ESO). A test setup for the distributed electric tail rotor of an unmanned helicopter was devised and constructed for empirical testing purposes. This setup was used as a reference for the 700-class electric model helicopter. The findings of the simulation demonstrate that the control strategy for the unmanned helicopter’s distributed electric tail rotor, enhanced by the refined cascaded ADRC method, achieves superior response speed and minimized overshoot during yaw channel tracking. Furthermore, it displays a degree of enhanced robustness and improved control proficiency in comparison to the conventional ADRC approach. The outcomes of the test stand validate the efficacy of this control strategy.

Keywords

• Active disturbance rejection control
• cascaded control
• distributed electric tail rotor
• fal function
• unmanned helicopter