MANEUVERING FLIGHT CONTROL

The development of control laws for maneuvering flight, specifically, a high-amplitude velocity-vector roll, is addressed. The plant model h as seventh-order nonlinear dynamics with coupled pitch and lateral dir ectional dynamics. Using time scale separation and pointwise lineariza tion about nonequilibria trajectories, a receding horizon linear quadr atic optimal control law with full state feedback is synthesized on-li ne. Also on-line, the pilot inputs are modified using linear programmi ng to prevent actuator rate saturation over the optimization horizon. The nonlinear control law performance is demonstrated in a fighter air craft simulation with a rudder failure during a loaded roll maneuver. The performance of the controller during aggressive pitch and yaw mane uvers is also demonstrated The work described in this paper is confine d to model-based receding horizon optimal control law synthesis; one w ill rely on on-line system identification to provide the failed aerody namic stability and control derivatives, thus achieving indirect adapt ive control.