Robust autopilot design for landing a large civil aircraft in crosswind

Theis, Julian; Ossmann, Daniel; Thielecke, Frank; Pfifer, Harald

Abstract

A comprehensive autolanding design for a representative model of a twin-engined commercial aircraft is presented in this paper. To facilitate the design task and minimize control law switching, a cascaded control structure is selected which resembles integrator chains. Classical loopshaping and robust control techniques are used to design the individual control loops. The emphasis is on providing a complete and comprehensive qualitative design strategy. The control system’s ability to safely land the aircraft despite strong crosswind in a variety of possible scenarios is demonstrated in an industry-grade verification campaign. Nonlinear Monte Carlo simulations of the airliner model are used to assess the risk of unsafe landing conditions and provide insight into the performance characteristics and limitations of the proposed control system.

Citation

Theis, J., Ossmann, D., Thielecke, F., & Pfifer, H. (2018). Robust autopilot design for landing a large civil aircraft in crosswind. Control Engineering Practice, 76, 54-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2018.04.010

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 17, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 30, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 26, 2019
• Journal: Control Engineering Practice
• Print ISSN: 0967-0661
• Electronic ISSN: 0967-0661
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 76
• Pages: 54-64
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conengprac.2018.04.010
• Keywords: Aircraft control ; Flight control ; Cascade control ; Control design ; Mixed sensitivity problem ; H-infinity control
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/948542
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967066118300911
• Contract Date: May 16, 2018