mday299 wrote:It would be nice to get a working generic helicopter autopilot. Some specific ones might be nice as well. UAV work is starting to take off (pun intended) where I work.
That's a project idea, which would better be discussed in a separate thread, or possibly even wiki page.
Also, it's an idea that does not necessarily involve C++ coding: FlightGear has a built-in Autopilot system which is fully XML configurable, in addition JSBSim has a separate autopilot implementation that is to an even larger degree configurable, and then there is the possibility to simply use a Nasal script to create a custom autopilot.
The FG autopilot component has recently seen some pretty significant improvements.
In general, it should already be possible to create an autopilot for helicopters, using existing means.
In fact, even the standard PID controllers in the default fixed wing autopilot do work reasonably well to a certain degree for rotary aircraft, once the helicopter is airborne and flying. You can try this for yourself by activating the default autopilot once you are airborne and flying stable.
To be honest, creating a basic helicopter autopilot would not be that complicated. It would surely not require anybody to work on it for 3 months.
Of course helicopter specific maneuvers and capabilities make this more interesting and challenging, but still ...
On the other hand, re-creating a complete IFR capable autopilot system for helicopters that is based on a real one, would be more involved.
Also see:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=905&p=11077&hilit=helicopter+autopilot#p11077So we talked about this idea before, and there is some objection.
Of course there are a number of helicopters that do actually provide an SAS or a full AP (for IFR flight).
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/in ... 010AAzokLfhttp://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtop ... w=previoushttp://www.airliners.net/aviation-forum ... ain/44711/http://www.bowerhelicopter.com/2004-04-SFIM-AP.htmhttp://www.bellhelicopter.com/en/aircra ... ell429.cfmSAS:
http://www.pilotoutlook.com/helicopter_flying/autopilothttp://www.ifrflying.com/AIM/Chap10/aim1001.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=Bk9fOM ... ot&f=falsehttp://www.ainonline.com/news/single-ne ... ers-24044/http://www.cobham.com/media/95949/311%2 ... cation.pdfhttp://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/Spinoff2008/t_2.htmlhttp://www.aviationtoday.com/av/categor ... t/709.html