Flight Simulator Transfer of Training Effectiveness in Helicopter Maneuvering Flight

This research aims to advance the state-of-the-art requirements for helicopter pilot training in flight simulators contributing to the rotorcraft safety enhancement framework. It has been conducted as part of the Marie Sk\l odowska-Curie European Joint Doctorate NITROS (Network for Innovative Training on Rotorcraft Safety).<br/><br/>Training has...

Energy-Based Modelling and Control for Helicopter Autorotation: A port-Hamiltonian approach

Automation is playing an increasingly important role in today’s society and is revolutionising nearly all industries. In this thesis, the helicopter industry is considered. Helicopters are complex systems capable of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL). Many companies and organisations are now looking to automate VTOL vehicles in order to break...

Nonlinear Control For a Small-Scale Helicopter UAV in Autorotation

With the increased use of small unmanned systems, and even automated flight, safety is becoming an issue. For helicopters specifically, engine failure typically results in a crash. For manned helicopters, autorotation is a manoeuvre used to reduce the downward speed and land at safe velocities. In this thesis, we examine a technique of modelling...

Small-Scale Helicopter Automatic Autorotation: Modeling, Guidance, and Control

Our research objective consists in developing a, model-based, automatic safety recovery system, for a small-scale helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in autorotation, i.e. an engine OFF flight condition, that safely flies and lands the helicopter to a pre-specified ground location. In pursuit of this objective, the contributions of this...