Nonlinear Flight Control for a Reentry Vehicle Using Inverse Dynamics Transformation

Abstract

A feedback system for aircraft nonlinear equations of motion is designed in this paper without using linear approximation. The design method is based on inverse dynamics transformation and singular perturbation theory, and enables us to control the nonlinear dynamics directly. This leads to an advantage that the dynamics can be controlled by a single control law through the whole flight envelope. To evaluate and substantiate the design method, ALFLEX (AutoLanding FLight EXperiment) plane is selected, and simulations are given regarding on the time separation between inner and outer loops and on the robustness of modeling errors.