Subspace-based System Identi¯cation for Helicopter

Dynamic Modelling
Abstract
This paper investigates the problem of helicopter
dynamic modelling using time-domain system identi¯cation
techniques. The paper begins with a brief
introduction to the state-space form of the perturbation
model for helicopters, based on which, system
identi¯cation modelling is performed. Then
the MOESP (Multivariable Output-Error State
sPace) subspace identi¯cation method is described.
Computer simulations are carried out to illustrate
the operation and performance of the method using
concatenated data sets. The method is then
applied to real data from EH101 helicopter °ight
tests and some preliminary results of identifying
an extended dynamic model about the cruise condition
are presented

The rest of the paper is organized as

follows. Next section brie°y introduces the state-
space perturbation model for helicopters, based on
which the system identi¯cation is performed. Then
the subspace-based system identi¯cation strategy
used in this paper is described, which is followed by
the simulation studies. The results of helicopter dynamic
modelling via subspace-based system identi¯cation
using real °ight test data are presented
with concluding remarks in the last section.

Concluding Remarks
The problem of identifying a state-space helicopter
dynamic model using a time-domain system identi¯cation
technique is studied. The MOESP type of
subspace identi¯cation method is used. Simulation
studies have been carried out to assess the performance
of the method and the main results can be
summarized as follows:
² The subspace identi¯cation method is essentially
a \black-box" modelling approach where
no prior parameterization of the model to be
identi¯ed is required. This is very helpful for
helicopter dynamic modelling as the determination
of an identi¯able parameterization for
the helicopter dynamic model is far from trivial,
especially when only limited measurement
channels are available.
²
The method is computationally e±cient and
numerically reliable. This makes it particularly
attractive here because the identi¯cation
of a high order state-space helicopter dynamic
model is required.

² The MOESP identi¯cation scheme is easy to

use (only one simple design parameter needs to
be speci¯ed by the user) and can deal with the
concatenation of the data sets from multiple
tests in a straightforward way.
As a \black-box" model structure is assumed, no
attempt is made to identify the internal structure
of the real system that generates the data in the
proposed identi¯cation scheme. The method only
produces a model that describes the input-output
relationship of the original system model. If a particular
parametric helicopter model structure or the
values of the parameters themselves are of interest,
then parameter estimation-based modelling methods
(such as e.g. [15],[16]) need to be used. In
such cases, a valid identi¯able parametric model
structure needs to be determined before proceeding
to the parameter estimation stage. Subspacebased
method as described in this paper can then
be used to get some information of the underlying
state-space model, such as the possible order of the
system, from °ight test data.
In the paper, the MOESP identi¯cation scheme
was also applied to real °ight test data from WHL
and an extended state-space dynamic model for the
cruise condition of an EH101 helicopter was identi¯ed.
Further work is being carried out to validate
the identi¯ed model and research is also being
performed to develop the practical methods for
determining uncertainty in the helicopter dynamic
models identi¯ed by subspace-based method.

Moh papeper

5 System Identification Results

5.1 Experimental Platform
Quadrotors are unstable systems that cannot be flown
under open loop control. In this work a UAV platform for
research by Ascending Technologies GmbH known as the
Pelican has been used. The platform comes with an onboard
stabilizing controller which is implemented on the
on-board ARM7 embedded microcontroller and runs at
1KHz. This controller allows the user to fly the quadrotor
by providing attitude reference commands (roll, pitch,
and yaw angles) and a throttle value by means of a
remote controller. This allows the data acquisition to
be performed while flying a closed-loop stable system.
Figure 3 shows a side view of the Pelican quadrotor
helicopter employed in this work.
Brushless DC motors, like those used by the Pelican,
are known to have a small time constant (10ms as
reported in [31]). Thus, actuator dynamics are neglected
here for simplicity, implying [

r1
;
r2
;

]=
[

]. The supplied stabilizing controller has

known structure and parameters, leaving the model
parameter vector _ in (19) to be estimated by an
optimization algorithm.
1
;

2
;

3
;

4
Output body rates (p; q; r) are provided by onboard
Micro Electro Mechanical system (MEMS) gyroscopes
while the attitude angles (_; _; ) are estimated
by the onboard Attitude and Heading Reference
System (AHRS). The body accelerations (a
) are
measured by the onboard MEMS accelerometers, and
corrected for gravity using the AHRS attitude estimate.
Input and output data are sampled at a rate of 50Hz
while the quadrotor attitude and throttle is manually
x
r3
;a
y
;

;a
z
r4