Design and applications of an avionics system for a miniature acrobatic helicopter

This paper describes the avionics developed for a miniature acrobatic helicopter and the applications for such a system. The avionics system is designed to safely achieve a robust, high-bandwidth feedback control system while meeting physical specifications. The system that is currently implemented has provided an efficient platform for testing new closed-loop controllers and has yielded critical flight data used for developing simple models of small-scale helicopter dynamics. The helicopter has already demonstrated successful flight under a body-axis velocity/heading rate-tracking controller.