This thesis presents a novel position control method for rotary wing unmanned aerialvehicles (RUAVs) using a nonlinear control design technique called backstepping. Thenovelty of the research work is in extension of the backstepping approach to a class ofunderactuated mechanical systems like RUAV with significant flapping dynamics. Theinnovation in this research is in providing a correction dynamics by measuring the flappingangles. The work is experimentally tested in successful flight tests of RUAV.A high-order RUAV model, including the rotor flap and the servo dynamics, is presentedand validated using experimental flight data. The RUAV model presented in thisthesis is suitable for designing an Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) of an RUAV.The nonlinear RUAV model is parameterized in such a way that most parameters are obtainedfrom the linearized model by performing linear system identification about a fewselected points. This identification process gives complete servo dynamics, geometric andinertial parameters, and velocity derivatives. The identified parameters of an RUAV modelare verified using experimental flight data and are used to obtain its nonlinear model. Theidentified model is used to design a backstepping-based controller and its performance istested using autonomous flight experimental results.
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