Virtual Reference Feedback Tuning for position control of a twin rotor aerodynamic system

This paper presents a positioning control application of the Virtual Reference Feedback Tuning (VRFT) technique for linear feedback controllers of a Multi Input-Multi Output (MIMO) twin rotor aerodynamic system (TRAS). The VRFT technique is useful because it finds the parameters of linear feedback controllers without using the process model. The identified controller is validated both by a regression test for selecting the optimal number of parameters and by a whitening test on the prediction error. A set of experimental results for the pitch and azimuth MIMO control systems using both Singe Input-Single Output (SISO) controllers and MIMO ones demonstrate the VRFT theory. A comparison of several MIMO controllers' performance is given.