L₁ adaptive control of flexible aircraft: Preliminary results

In this paper, some preliminary results on the application of an L1 adaptive controller to control augmentation of a flexible aircraft are presented. As a first step, a simple longitudinal model of an executive aircraft is developed, which takes into account the effects of aft-fuselage and wing flexibility on flight dynamics and, in particular, on response to command inputs. An L1 adaptive controller is then considered as a means for providing robust command augmentation in the presence of flexible degrees of freedom, where sufficient command tracking capabilities on the pitch rate channel are demonstrated even in the presence of failure of the stability augmentation system or failure of the elevator, which halves the control power available.