• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2013

The precision aerial application of small farms, such as paddy, upland and orchard fields using agricultural unmanned helicopters became a new paradigm. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a GPS module and algorithm, controlling drift of agricultural helicopter by the crosswind and maintaining the position for emergency landing. Purpose of the drift control, of which an algorithm works while hovering is related with the emergency sequence that coping with abnormal conditions of rotorcraft system. However, the inertial attitude control cannot detect a drifting motion of fuselage moving at the constant velocity, thus the crosswind takes the helicopter away from the landing position. Performance of the drift control module, based on the GPS that a hovering position did not deviate within 5m in diameter, were tested and evaluated. Initially, the reaction against a disturbing gust wind was sensitive, soon the helicopter maintained its locking position and azimuth within 5m in diameter. It was, however, difficult for the helicopter to recognize the swaying and nodding, the some deviation was expected due to the discrepancy characteristics of the GPS signal. The performance of the drift control proved the effectiveness of the module to maintain the position against an unintended drift during the emergency landing or hovering.