An objective of the present invention is to provide an 
autonomous control method that autonomously controls a small unmanned helicopter toward target values, such as a set position and velocity, by deriving model formulas that are well suited for the 
autonomous control of small unmanned helicopters, by designing an 
autonomous control algorithm based on the model formulas, and by calculating the autonomous 
control algorithm. The autonomous 
control system for a small unmanned helicopter of the present invention comprises: sensors that detect the current position, the attitude angle, the altitude relative to the ground, and the absolute 
azimuth of the 
nose of the aforementioned small unmanned helicopter; a primary computational unit that calculates 
optimal control reference values for driving the 
servo motors that move five rudders on the helicopter from target position or velocity values that are set by the 
ground station and the aforementioned current position and attitude angle of the small unmanned helicopter that are detected by the aforementioned sensors; an autonomous 
control system equipped with a secondary computational unit that converts the data collected by said sensors and the computational results as numeric values that are output by said primary computational unit into pulse signals that can be accepted by the 
servo motors, such that these components are assembled into a small frame box, thereby achieving both size and weight reductions; a 
ground station host computer that can also be used as the aforementioned computational unit for the aforementioned autonomous 
control system; if the aforementioned 
ground station host computer is used as the aforementioned computational unit for the aforementioned autonomous control 
system, in the process of directing the computational results that are output from said ground 
station host computer to said 
servo motors through a manual operation 
transmitter, a 
radio control generator that converts said computational results as numerical values into pulse signals that said manual operation 
transmitter can accept; a servo pulse mixing / switching apparatus, on all said servo motors for said small unmanned helicopter, that permits the switching of manual operation signals and said control signals that are output from said autonomous control 
system or mixing thereof in any ratio; an autonomous 
control algorithm wherein the 
mathematical model for 
transfer function representation encompassing pitching operation input through 
pitch axis attitude angles in the tri-axis 
orientation control for said small unmanned helicopter is defined as  Gθ(s)=e-LsKθωns2(s2+2sωn ss+ωn s2)(Tθs+1)swherein Gθ: parameter e−Ls: 
dead time element Kθ: model 
gain Tθ: model 
gain ωns: 
natural frequency s: 
laplace operator ξs: damped ratio such that the aforementioned small unmanned helicopter is controlled autonomously based on the aforementioned 
mathematical model.