Comparison Study between Waypoints Tracking and Trajectory Tracking Control Strategies Using the Same PID Autopilot for Unmanned Helicopter Model

Document Type : Original Article

Author

PhD, Air Force R&D.

Abstract

This paper is presenting a detailed comparison study for two different guidance strategies. The first strategy is concerning the difference angle between the desired heading or elevation referred to the next waypoint and the actual heading or elevation of the unmanned helicopter model. The second strategy is concerning the relative distance between the actual
and the desired trajectories. In other words the first method is tracking the waypoints while the second one is tracking the trajectory. In this work a comparison study was conducted through the mentioned strategies simulation to show the significant differences in the output performance. Some performance indexes were presented to evaluate the system performance errors and the control effort needed for both strategies using the same desired trajectory and the same waypoints.

Keywords