ROBUST CONTROL DESIGN FOR FLIGHT CONTROL

MODERN REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE AIRCRAFT REQUIRE ADVANCED CONTROL CONFIGURED FLIGHT VEHICLES WHERE AN INCREASING RELIANCE IS PLACED ON COMPUTER CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR FLIGHT PERFORMANCE. THE INCREASED RELIANCE ON COMPUTER CONTROL PLACES SIGNIFICANT REQUIREMENTS ON SUCH SYSTEMS TO BE RELIABLE AND ROBUST IN THE ACTUAL FLIGHT ENVIRONMENT. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED DESIGN PACKAGE FOR ADVANCED FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEMS WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON ROBUST PERFORMANCE IN THE FACE OF MODELING UNCERTAINTY APPROPRIATE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE FLIGHT CONTRO. OUR PRIMARY GOALS ARE: 1) TO DEMONSTRATE THE CHARACTERIZATION OF MODELING UNCERTAINTY INCURRED BY LINEARIZATION OF THE NONLINEAR FLIGHT DYNAMICS AND TO CONSIDER VARIOUS ALTERNATIVES, 2) TO INVESTIGATE AND PRIORITIZE AVAILABLE METHODS FOR SYNTHESIS OF ROBUST, MULTILOOP CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR THIS APPLICATION, 3) TO DEVELOP OPTIONS FOR CONTROL COMPUTER IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH SYSTEMS, AND 4) TO ASSESS THE IMPACT OF ROBUST CONTROL METHODS FOR ENHANCING FLIGHT CONTROL PERFORMANCE IN TERMS OF HANDLING QUALITY ASSESSMENT.