Adaptive Backstepping Control for Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicles with Input Nonlinearities

This paper addresses the control problem of air-breathing hypersonic vehicles subject to input nonlinearities, aerodynamic uncertainties and flexible modes. An adaptive backstepping controller and a dynamic inverse controller are developed for the altitude subsystem and the velocity subsystem, respectively, where the former eliminates the problem of “explosion of terms” inherent in backstepping control. Moreover, a modified smooth inverse of the dead-zone is proposed to compensate for the dead-zone effects and reduce the computational burden. Based on this smooth inverse, an input nonlinear pre-compensator is designed to handle input saturation and dead-zone nonlinearities, which leads to a simpler control design for the altitude subsystem subject to these two input nonlinearities. It is proved that the proposed controllers can guarantee that all closed-loop signals are bounded and the tracking errors converge to an arbitrarily small residual set. Simulation results are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme

Adaptive fault-tolerant attitude tracking control for hypersonic vehicle with unknown inertial matrix and states constraints

This paper proposes an adaptive fault-tolerant control (FTC) method for hypersonic vehicle (HSV) with unexpected centroid shift, actuator fault, time-varying full state constraints, and input saturation. The occurrence of unexpected centroid shift has three main effects on the HSV system, which are system uncertainties, eccentric moments, and variation of input matrix. In order to ensure the time-varying state constraints, a novel attitude state constraint control strategy, to keep the safe flight of HSV, is technically proposed by a time-varying state constraint function (TVSCF). A unified controller is designed to handle the time-varying state constraints according to the proposed TVSCF. Then, the constrained HSV system can be transformed into a novel free-constrained system based on the TVSCF. For the variation of system input matrix, input saturation and actuator fault, a special Nussbaum-type function is designed to compensate for those time-varying nonlinear terms. Additionally, the auxiliary systems is designed to compensate the constraint of system control inputs. Then, it is proved that the proposed control scheme can guarantee the boundedness of all closed-loop signals based on the Lyapunov stability theory. At last, the simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant control scheme.</p

Adaptive Control of a Generic Hypersonic Vehicle

This paper presents an adaptive augmented, gain-scheduled baseline LQR-PI controller applied to the Road Runner six-degree-of-freedom generic hypersonic vehicle model. Uncertainty in control effectiveness, longitudinal center of gravity location, and aerodynamic coefficients are introduced in the model, as well as sensor bias and noise, and input time delays. The performance of the baseline controller is compared to the same design augmented with one of two different model-reference adaptive controllers: a classical open- loop reference model design, and modified closed-loop reference model design. Both adaptive controllers show improved command tracking and stability over the baseline controller when subject to these uncertainties. The closed-loop reference model controller offers the best performance, tolerating a reduced control effectiveness of 50%, rearward center of gravity shift of up to -1.6 feet (11% of vehicle length), aerodynamic coefficient uncertainty scaled 4× the nominal value, and sensor bias of up to +3.2 degrees on sideslip angle measurement. The closed-loop reference model adaptive controller maintains at least 70% of the delay margin provided by the robust baseline design when subject to varying levels of uncertainty, tolerating input time delays of between 15-41 ms during 3 degree angle of attack doublet, and 80 degree roll step commands.Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited. Case Number 88ABW-2013-3392

Direct Adaptive Control for Stability and Command Augmentation System of an Air-Breathing Hypersonic Vehicle

In this paper we explore a Direct Adaptive Control scheme for stabilizing a non-linear, physics based model of the longitudinal dynamics for an air breathing hypersonic vehicle. The model, derived from first principles, captures the complex interactions between the propulsion system, aerodynamics, and structural dynamics. The linearized aircraft dynamics show unstable and non-minimum phase behavior. It also shows a strong short period coupling with the fuselage-bending mode. The value added by direct adaptive control and the theoretical requirements for stable convergent operation is displayed. One of the main benefits of the Directive Adaptive Control is that it can be implemented knowing very little detail about the plant. The implementation uses only measured output feedback to accomplish the adaptation. A stability analysis is conducted on the linearized plant to understand the complex aero-propulsion and structural interactions. The multivariable system possesses certain characteristics beneficial to the adaptive control scheme; we discuss these advantages and ideas for future work

Observer-Based Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion Adaptive Control with State Constraints

Hypersonic vehicle research and development has grown recently in the aerospace industry due to the powerful potential of operating a vehicle that flies at substantially higher speeds than typical aircraft. From a guidance, navigation and control perspective, hypersonic vehicles are particularly interesting due both to inherent vehicle complexities as well as practical concerns that only arise at high Mach numbers. Challenges inherent to the vehicle include nonlinearities, a wide range of operating conditions, high elasticity, high temperatures and parametric uncertainty. Although these challenges have by no means fully been explored in the literature, in the realm of control theory, they are somewhat common. Hypersonic vehicle control is difficult however, because in addition to these more traditional complexities a control designer must also deal with problems very specific to flying at high speeds such as: inlet unstart, overcoming sensing deficiencies at high speeds and creating an implementable digital control framework for a plant with extremely fast dynamics. This dissertation develops three novel theoretical approaches for addressing these challenges through advances in the nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control technique. Although hypersonic vehicle control is the motivation and often the application that the control algorithms in this dissertation are tested on, several of the theoretical developments apply to a general class of nonlinear continuous time systems. First, in order to address the problem of inlet unstart, two state constraint mechanisms which integrate into the nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control framework are presented. These state constraining control laws require full state feedback and are capable of restricting the outputs of nonlinear systems containing parameter uncertainty to specific regions of the state-space. The first state constraint mechanism achieves this objective using sliding mode control and the second uses bounding functions to smoothly adjust the control and adaptive laws and drive the states toward the origin when constraints are approached. Stability is proven using Lyapunov analysis and these techniques are demonstrated in a nonlinear simulation of a hypersonic vehicle. Second, an observer-based feedback controller is developed that allows for a nonlinear system to track a reference trajectory with bounded errors and without measuring multiple states. Again, the technique used is nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control, but because of uncertainty in the system state, it is not assumed that the nonlinear control effectiveness matrix can be canceled perfectly. A nonlinear observer is implemented to estimate the values of the unknown states. This observer allows for the closed-loop stability of the system to be proven through Lyapunov analysis. It is shown that parametric uncertainty can successfully be accounted for using an adaptive mechanism and that all tracking and estimation errors are uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, a sampled-data nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control architecture is introduced. Despite the prevalence of digital controllers in practice, a nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control scheme in a sampled-data setting has not previously been developed. The method presented in this dissertation has the capability of extending the benefits of nonlinear dynamic inversion adaptive control - robust control of nonlinear systems with respect to model uncertainty - to more practical platforms

Adaptive control of a generic hypersonic vehicle

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-115).This thesis presents a an adaptive augmented, gain-scheduled baseline LQR-PI controller applied to the Road Runner six-degree-of-freedom generic hypersonic vehicle model. Uncertainty in control effectiveness, longitudinal center of gravity location, and aerodynamic coefficients are introduced in the model, as well as sensor bias and noise, and input time delays. The performance of the baseline controller is compared to the same design augmented with one of two different model-reference adaptive controllers: a classical open-loop reference model design, and modified closed-loop reference model design. Both adaptive controllers show improved command tracking and stability over the baseline controller when subject to these uncertainties. The closed-loop reference model controller offers the best performance, tolerating a reduced control effectiveness of 50%, rearward center of gravity shift of -0.9 to -1.6 feet (6-11% of vehicle length), aerodynamic coefficient uncertainty scaled 4x the nominal value, and sensor bias of +1.6 degrees on sideslip angle measurement. The closed-loop reference model adaptive controller maintains at least 73% of the delay margin provided by the robust baseline design, tolerating input time delays of between 18-46 ms during 3 degree angle of attack doublet, and 80 degree roll step commands.by Daniel Philip Wiese.S.M

Multi-Objective Trajectory Optimization of a Hypersonic Reconnaissance Vehicle with Temperature Constraints

Temperature-constrained optimal trajectories for a scramjet-based hypersonic reconnaissance vehicle were generated by developing an optimal control formulation and solving it using a variable order Gauss-Radau quadrature collocation method. The vehicle was assumed to be an air-breathing reconnaissance aircraft that has specified takeoff/landing locations, airborne refueling constraints, specified no-fly zones, and specified targets for sensor data collections. The aircraft model included fight dynamics, aerodynamics, and thermal constraints. This model was incorporated into an optimal control formulation that includes constraints on both the vehicle as well as mission parameters, such as avoidance of no-fly zones and coverage of high-value targets. Optimal trajectories were be developed using several different performance costs in the optimal control formulation--minimum time, minimum time with control penalties, and maximum range. The resulting analysis demonstrated that optimal trajectories that meet specified mission parameters and constraints can be determined and used for larger-scale operational and campaign planning

Trajectory optimization and guidance law development for national aerospace plane applications

The work completed to date is comprised of the following: a simple vehicle model representative of the aerospace plane concept in the hypersonic flight regime, fuel-optimal climb profiles for the unconstrained and dynamic pressure constrained cases generated using a reduced order dynamic model, an analytic switching condition for transition to rocket powered flight as orbital velocity is approached, simple feedback guidance laws for both the unconstrained and dynamic pressure constrained cases derived via singular perturbation theory and a nonlinear transformation technique, and numerical simulation results for ascent to orbit in the dynamic pressure constrained case

Fuzzy adaptive tracking control within the full envelope for an unmanned aerial vehicle

AbstractMotivated by the autopilot of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a wide flight envelope span experiencing large parametric variations in the presence of uncertainties, a fuzzy adaptive tracking controller (FATC) is proposed. The controller consists of a fuzzy baseline controller and an adaptive increment, and the main highlight is that the fuzzy baseline controller and adaptation laws are both based on the fuzzy multiple Lyapunov function approach, which helps to reduce the conservatism for the large envelope and guarantees satisfactory tracking performances with strong robustness simultaneously within the whole envelope. The constraint condition of the fuzzy baseline controller is provided in the form of linear matrix inequality (LMI), and it specifies the satisfactory tracking performances in the absence of uncertainties. The adaptive increment ensures the uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) predication errors to recover satisfactory responses in the presence of uncertainties. Simulation results show that the proposed controller helps to achieve high-accuracy tracking of airspeed and altitude desirable commands with strong robustness to uncertainties throughout the entire flight envelope

Nonlinear Adaptive Dynamic Inversion Control for Hypersonic Vehicles

Because of the widely varying flight conditions in which hypersonic vehicles operate and certain aspects unique to hypersonic flight, the development of control architectures for these vehicles presents a challenge. Previous work on control design for hypersonic vehicles often has involved linearized or simplified nonlinear dynamical models of the aircraft. This dissertation retains the nonlinear dynamics in the design of the controller for a generic hypersonic vehicle model and develops nonlinear adaptive dynamic inversion control architecture with a control allocation scheme. A robustness analysis is performed on the initial controller design, which shows that the controller is able to handle time delays, perturbations in stability derivatives, and reduced control surface effectiveness while maintaining tracking performance. One particular safety concern in hypersonic flight is inlet unstarts, which not only produce a significant decrease in the thrust but also can lead to loss of control and possibly the loss of the vehicle. This dissertation focuses on the prevention of inlet unstarts that are triggered by an altered flow that fails to pass through the throat of the engine because the aircraft has exceeded limits on angle-of-attack and sideslip angle. To prevent undesirable inlet unstart events, the nonlinear adaptive dynamic inversion control architecture is given the ability to enforce state constraints. Because several phenomena can cause inlet unstarts, the control architecture also is tested to determine if the controller is able to maintain reference trajectory tracking and to prevent the loss of the vehicle should an inlet unstart occur. Additionally, a fault- tolerant control capability is added to the control architecture so that the vehicle can handle the failure of one or more control surfaces. The tracking performance of the nonlinear adaptive dynamic inversion control architecture is analyzed for the cases of enforcement of state constraints, control surface failures, and inlet unstarts. In all three cases, the control architecture is able to track reference trajectories with minimal to no degradation in performance. Limitations were discovered in the case of the controller that enforces state constraints in terms of the trajectories that can be tracked when combined with fault-tolerant control. However, the results indicate that the nonlinear adaptive dynamic inversion controller is able to achieve tracking performance in the presence of the uncertainties and inlet unstarts conditions studied in this dissertation