Design and dynamic characterization of a gyroscopic system for aerobatic UAV helicopters

This paper describes the design, development and dynamic characterization of a high performance MEMS-based gyroscopic control system for the yaw channel of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Radio Controlled (RC) helicopters for aerobatic maneuvers. A new asymmetrical controller has been developed that compensates the torque of the main rotor thus providing equal dynamic response in clockwise and anticlockwise pirouettes. The “in flight” dynamic characterization showed that the proposed system can be up to five times faster than the state of the art for commercial gyros at higher yaw rates; the regime yaw rate characterization demonstrated a high and constant pirouette speed. Aerobatic tests demonstrated high accuracy entry into the maneuvers.