After investigating whether an autonomous helicopter is a viable search and rescue opportunity, including a correspondence with a search and rescue helicopter pilot, the project is delimited to a proof of concept system with a helicopter dragging a semi-submerged slung load.

Using a finished helicopter model referred to as the Bisgaard model, the modelling part includes a model of a semi-submerged slung load, as well as an rigid body model describing the interactions between the helicopter and the slung load. Though, with the wire attachment point in the helicopter centre of mass. Experimentation showed the slung load model to have slightly different dynamics, and not enough damping when compared.

The control part of this work includes a series of LQ controllers for the system both with and without slung load attached, with an expansion of an outer loop MPC to control the set-points. The part also include switching between the controllers, making the system able to fly to a reference position and change to hover.

The results from the acceptance test show how the produced controllers are able to stabilise the system to a degree where the requirements are fulfilled, but with plenty of control opportunities open for future work.