Minimum-Time Hover-to-Hover Maneuver of a Single Coaxial Rotor UAV : Example and Experimental Results

This paper investigates the application of optimal control results to the experimental flight of a Single Coaxial Rotor (SCR) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) conducted in the indoor flight facility of the National Defense Academy of Japan (NDA). The optimal control problem is prescribed as a minimum-time hover-to-hover maneuver of the SCR UAV and it is solved using pseudospectral (PS) optimal control theory. The computed optimal results are applied as open-loop commands to the real UAV system. Additionally, a PID control is used for hovering flight before and after the minimum-time maneuver. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of commanding the UAV with open-loop optimal solutions generated offline.