Robust flight control design to minimize aircraft loss-of-control incidents

Abstract

A pseudo-sliding mode control synthesis procedure discussed previously in the literature is applied to the design of a control system for a nonlinear model of the NASA Langley Generic Transport Model. The complete vehicle model is included as an appendix. The goal of the design effort is the synthesis of a robust control system to minimize aircraft loss-of-control by preserving fundamental pilot input-system response characteristics across the flight envelope, here including the possibility of actuator damage. The design is carried out completely in the frequency domain and is described by a ten-step synthesis procedure, also previously introduced it the literature. Five different flight tasks are considered in computer simulations of the completed design demonstrating the stability and performance robustness of the control system.