Attitude estimation and control of a 3-DOF lab helicopter only based on optical flow. (17th April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Lianhua; Shi, Zongying; Zhong, Yisheng
• Is Part Of: Advanced robotics. Volume 30:Number 8(2016)
• Page Start: 505
• Page End: 518
• Publication Date: 2016-04-17
• Subjects: Optical flow -- vision-based control -- attitude estimation -- 3-DOF helicopter; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics -- Japan -- Periodicals; Robotics; Japan; Periodicals; 629.89205
• DOI: 10.1080/01691864.2015.1130171
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0169-1864

Abstract

Abstract : This paper proposes an attitude estimation method based on optical flow to solve the attitude tracking control problem for a three degree-of-freedom (3-DOF) lab helicopter. First, the relationship between optical flow and the motion of a general unmanned aerial vehicle is derived from the transformation between the image coordinate frame and the world coordinate frame. Then, an expression for the angular velocity of the 3-DOF helicopter is deduced only based on optical flow, and the attitude information is acquired by solving nonlinear equations. Finally, using visual feedback, a linear quadratic regulation (LQR) controller is designed for hovering and tracking, which consists of a feedforward controller and a LQR state feedback controller. Closed-loop experimental results on the lab helicopter demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed estimation and control methods. Graphical Abstract: