H1 output tracking control for flight control systems with time-varying delay

For flight control systems with time-varying delay, an H1 output tracking controller is proposed. The controller is designed for the discrete-time state-space model of general aircraft to reduce the ef...     

Decentralized attitude synchronization tracking control for multiple spacecraft under directed communication topology

This paper studies the attitude synchronization tracking control of spacecraft formation flying with a directed communication topology and presents three different controllers. By introducing a novel error variable associated with rotation matrix, a decentralized attitude synchronization controller, which could obtain almost global asymptotical stability of the closed-loop system, is developed. Then, considering model uncertainties and unknown external disturbances, we propose a robust adaptive attitude synchronization controller by designing adaptive laws to estimate the unknown parameters. After that, the third controller is proposed by extending this method to the case of time-varying communication delays via Lyapunov–Krasovskii analysis. The distinctive feature of this work is to address attitude coordinated control with model uncertainties, unknown disturbances and time-varying delays in a decentralized framework, with a strongly connected directed information flow. It is shown that tracking and synchronization of an arbitrary desired attitude can be achieved when the stability condition is satisfied. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.     

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

Motivated 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.     

Adaptive Fuzzy Torque Control of Passive Torque Servo Systems Based on Small Gain Theorem and Input-to-state Stability

Passive torque servo system (PTSS) simulates aerodynamic load and exerts the load on actuation system, but PTSS endures position coupling disturbance from active motion of actuation system, and this inherent disturbance is called extra torque. The most important issue for PTSS controller design is how to eliminate the influence of extra torque. Using backstepping technique, adaptive fuzzy torque control (AFTC) algorithm is proposed for PTSS in this paper, which reflects the essential characteristics of PTSS and guarantees transient tracking performance as well as final tracking accuracy. Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy logic system is utilized to compensate parametric uncertainties and unstructured uncertainties. The output velocity of actuator identified model is introduced into AFTC aiming to eliminate extra torque. The closed-loop stability is studied using small gain theorem and the control system is proved to be semiglobally uniformly ultimately bounded. The proposed AFTC algorithm is applied to an electric load simulator (ELS), and the comparative experimental results indicate that AFTC controller is effective for PTSS.     

Nonlinear Adaptive Robust Force Control of Hydraulic Load Simulator

This paper deals with the high performance force control of hydraulic load simulator. Many previous works for hydraulic force control are based on their linearization equations, but hydraulic inherent nonlinear properties and uncertainties make the conventional feedback proportional-integral-derivative control not yield to high-performance requirements. In this paper, a nonlinear system model is derived and linear parameterization is made for adaptive control. Then a discontinuous projection-based nonlinear adaptive robust force controller is developed for hydraulic load simulator. The proposed controller constructs an asymptotically stable adaptive controller and adaptation laws, which can compensate for the system nonlinearities and uncertain parameters. Meanwhile a well-designed robust controller is also developed to cope with the hydraulic system uncertain nonlinearities. The controller achieves a guaranteed transient performance and final tracking accuracy in the presence of both parametric uncertainties and uncertain nonlinearities; in the absence of uncertain nonlinearities, the scheme also achieves asymptotic tracking performance. Simulation and experiment comparative results are obtained to verify the high-performance nature of the proposed control strategy and the tracking accuracy is greatly improved.     

Dynamics modeling and control of a transport aircraft for ultra-low altitude airdrop

The nonlinear aircraft model with heavy cargo moving inside is derived by using the separation body method, which can describe the influence of the moving cargo on the aircraft attitude and altitude accurately. Furthermore, the nonlinear system is decoupled and linearized through the input–output feedback linearization method. On this basis, an iterative quasi-sliding mode(SM)flight controller for speed and pitch angle control is proposed. At the first-level SM, a global dynamic switching function is introduced thus eliminating the reaching phase of the sliding motion.At the second-level SM, a nonlinear function with the property of ‘‘smaller errors correspond to bigger gains and bigger errors correspond to saturated gains' ' is designed to form an integral sliding manifold, and the overcompensation of the integral term to big errors is weakened. Lyapunovbased analysis shows that the controller with strong robustness can reject both constant and time-varying model uncertainties. The performance of the proposed control strategy is verified in a maximum load airdrop mission.     

Delay Depending Decentralized Adaptive Attitude Synchronization Tracking Control of Spacecraft Formation

This paper deals with the problem of cooperative attitude tracking with time-varying communication delays as well as the delays between inter-synchronization control parts and self-tracking control parts in the spacecraft formation flying. First, we present the attitude synchronization tracking control algorithms and analyze the sufficient delay-dependent stability condition with the choice of a Lyapunov function when the angular velocity can be measured. More specifically, a class of linear filters is developed to derive an output feedback control law without having direct information of the angular velocity, which is significant for practical applications with low-cost configurations of spacecraft. Using a well-chosen Lyapunov-Krasovskii function, it is proven that the presented control law can make the spacecraft formation attitude tracking system synchronous and achieve exponential stability, in the face of model uncertainties, as well as non-uniform time-varying delays in communication links and different control parts. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control schemes.     

Multi Objective Robust Active Vibration Control for Flexure Jointed Struts of Stewart Platforms via H∞ and μ Synthesis

Active vibration control is needed for future space telescopes, space laser communication and other precision sensitive payloads which require ultra-quiet environments. A Stewart platform based hybrid isolator with 6 hybrid struts is the effective system for ac- tive/passive vibration isolation over 5-250 Hz band. Using an identification transfer matrix of the Stewart platform, the coupling analysis of six channels is provided. A dynamics model is derived, and the rigid mode is removed to keep the signal of pointing control. Multi objective robust H∞ and μ synthesis strategies, based on singular values and structured singular values respectively, are presented, which simultaneously satisfy the low frequency pointing and high frequency disturbance rejection requirements and take account of the model uncertainty, parametric uncertainty and sensor noise. Then, by performing robust stability test, it is shown that the two controllers are robust to the uncertainties, the robust stability margin of H∞ controller is less than that of μ controller, but the order of μ controller is higher than that of H∞ controller, so the balanced controller reduction is provided. Additionally, the μ controller is compared with a PI controller. The time domain simulation of the μ controller indicates that the two robust control strategies are effective for keeping the pointing command and isolating the harmonic and stochastic disturbances.     

Gain self-scheduled H_∞ control for morphing aircraft in the wing transition process based on an LPV model

This article investigates gain self-scheduled H 1 robust control system design for a tailless fold- ing-wing morphing aircraft in the wing shape varying process. During the wing morphing phase, the aircraft’s dynamic response will be governed by time-varying aerodynamic forces and moments. Nonlinear dynamic equations of the morphing aircraft are linearized by using Jacobian linearization approach, and a linear parameter varying (LPV) model of the morphing aircraft in wing folding is obtained. A multi-loop controller for the morphing aircraft is formulated to guarantee stability for the wing shape transition process. The proposed controller uses a set of inner-loop gains to provide stability using classical techniques, whereas a gain self-scheduled H 1 outer-loop controller is devised to guarantee a specific level of robust stability and performance for the time-varying dynamics. The closed-loop simulations show that speed and altitude vary slightly during the whole wing folding process, and they converge rapidly after the process ends. This proves that the gain self-scheduled H 1 robust controller can guarantee a satisfactory dynamic performance for the morphing aircraft during the whole wing shape transition process. Finally, the flight control system’s robustness for the wing folding process is verified according to uncertainties of the aerodynamic parameters in the nonlinear model.     

Fuzzy adaptive robust control for space robot considering the effect of the gravity

Space robot is assembled and tested in gravity environment, and completes on-orbit service（OOS） in microgravity environment. The kinematic and dynamic characteristic of the robot will change with the variations of gravity in different working condition. Fully considering the change of kinematic and dynamic models caused by the change of gravity environment, a fuzzy adaptive robust control（FARC） strategy which is adaptive to these model variations is put forward for trajectory tracking control of space robot. A fuzzy algorithm is employed to approximate the nonlinear uncertainties in the model, adaptive laws of the parameters are constructed, and the approximation error is compensated by using a robust control algorithm. The stability of the control system is guaranteed based on the Lyapunov theory and the trajectory tracking control simulation is performed. The simulation results are compared with the proportional plus derivative（PD） controller, and the effectiveness to achieve better trajectory tracking performance under different gravity environment without changing the control parameters and the advantage of the proposed controller are verified.     

Attitude tracking control for variable structure near space vehicles based on switched nonlinear systems

An adaptive robust attitude tracking control law based on switched nonlinear systems is presented for a variable structure near space vehicle (VSNSV) in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances. The adaptive fuzzy systems are employed for approximating unknown functions in the flight dynamic model and their parameters are updated online. To improve the flight robust performance, robust controllers with adaptive gains are designed to compensate for the approximation errors and thus they have less design conservation. Moreover, a systematic procedure is developed for the synthesis of adaptive fuzzy dynamic surface control (DSC) approach. According to the common Lyapunov function theory, it is proved that all signals of the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded by the continuous controller. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control scheme.     

Model reference adaptive control with smooth switching scheme for piecewise linear systems and its application in turbofan engine control

A model reference adaptive control (MRAC) with smooth switching scheme was proposed for piecewise linear systems, and the method was utilized in turbofan engine control to avoid the discontinuity of control input. In this scheme, each sub-region of the operating envelope had its own MRAC controller, and smooth indicator function based smooth switching scheme was introduced to switch multiple controllers smoothly at the boundary of adjacent sub-regions. The Lyapunov stability analysis indicated that the proposed smooth switching scheme can guarantee the convergence of the closed-loop system during the controllers switching. The tracking error system was converted into a switched system to analyze the global stability of the closed-loop system. The advantage of the method was that the chattering of system output and instability caused by asynchronous switching can be eliminated. The simulation illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in comparison with the existing MRAC controller with gain scheduling for turbofan engine.      

Multi Objective Robust Active Vibration Control for Flexure Jointed Struts of Stewart Platforms via H∞ and μ Synthesis

Active vibration control is needed for future space telescopes, space laser communication and other precision sensitive payloads which require ultra-quiet environments. A Stewart platform based hybrid isolator with 6 hybrid struts is the effective system for active/passive vibration isolation over 5-250 Hz band. Using an identification transfer matrix of the Stewart platform, the coupling analysis of six channels is provided. A dynamics model is derived, and the rigid mode is removed to keep the signal of pointing control. Multi objective robust H∞ and μ synthesis strategies, based on singular values and structured singular values respectively, are presented, which simultaneously satisfy the low frequency pointing and high frequency disturbance rejection requirements and take account of the model uncertainty, parametric uncertainty and sensor noise. Then, by performing robust stability test, it is shown that the two controllers are robust to the uncertainties, the robust stability margin of H, controller is less than that of μ controller, but the order of μ controller is higher than that of H, controller, so the balanced controller reduction is provided. Additionally, the μ controller is compared with a PI controller. The time domain simulation of the μ controller indicates that the two robust control strategies are effective for keeping the pointing command and isolating the harmonic and stochastic disturbances.     

Autonomous attitude coordinated control for spacecraft formation with input constraint,model uncertainties,and external disturbances

To synchronize the attitude of a spacecraft formation flying system, three novel autonomous control schemes are proposed to deal with the issue in this paper. The first one is an ideal autonomous attitude coordinated controller, which is applied to address the case with certain models and no disturbance. The second one is a robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which aims to tackle the case with external disturbances and model uncertainties. The last one is a filtered robust adaptive attitude coordinated controller, which is used to overcome the case with input con- straint, model uncertainties, and external disturbances. The above three controllers do not need any external tracking signal and only require angular velocity and relative orientation between a spacecraft and its neighbors. Besides, the relative information is represented in the body frame of each spacecraft. The controllers are proved to be able to result in asymptotical stability almost everywhere. Numerical simulation results show that the proposed three approaches are effective for attitude coordination in a spacecraft formation flying system.     

Robust Control for Static Loading of Electro-hydraulic Load Simulator with Friction Compensation

Load simulator is a key test equipment for aircraft actuation systems in hardware-in-the-loop-simulation. Static loading is an essential function of the load simulator and widely used in the static/dynamic stiffness test of aircraft actuation systems. The tracking performance of the static loading is studied in this paper. Firstly, the nonlinear mathematical models of the hydraulic load simulator are derived, and the feedback linearization method is employed to construct a feed-forward controller to improve the force tracking performance. Considering the effect of the friction, a LuGre model based friction compensation is synthesized, in which the unmeasurable state is estimated by a dual state observer via a controlled learning mechanism to guarantee that the estimation is bounded. The modeling errors are attenuated by a well-designed robust controller with a control accuracy measured by a design parameter. Employing the dual state observer is to capture the different effects of the unmeasured state and hence can improve the friction compensation accuracy. The tracking performance is summarized by a derived theorem. Experimental results are also obtained to verify the high performance nature of the proposed control strategy.     

Motion synchronization in a dual redundant HA/EHA system by using a hybrid integrated intelligent control design

This paper presents an integrated fuzzy controller design approach to synchronize a dis-similar redundant actuation system of a hydraulic actuator (HA) and an electro-hydrostatic actu-ator (EHA) with system uncertainties and disturbances. The motion synchronous control system consists of a trajectory generator, an individual position controller for each actuator, and a fuzzy force tracking controller (FFTC) for both actuators. The trajectory generator provides the desired motion dynamics and designing parameters of the trajectory which are taken according to the dynamic characteristics of the EHA. The position controller consists of a feed-forward controller and a fuzzy position tracking controller (FPTC) and acts as a decoupled controller, improving posi-tion tracking performance with the help of the feed-forward controller and the FPTC. The FFTC acts as a coupled controller and takes into account the inherent coupling effect. The simulation results show that the proposed controller not only eliminates initial force fighting by synchronizing the two actuators, but also improves disturbance rejection performance.     

Research of Compound Controller for Flight Simulator with Disturbance Observer

A compound controller is proposed to alleviate the considerable chattering in output of zero phase error tracking controller (ZPETC), when the flight simulator losses command data of simulation signal. Besides, the shortcomings, caused by conventional differential methods in retrieving velocity and acceleration signals, are avoided to a certain extent. The compound controller based on disturbance observer (DOB) is composed of a feed-forward controller and a feedback controller. It estimates velocity and acceleration of unknown tracking signal, and also velocity response with an approximate method for differential. The experiments on a single-axis flight simulator show that the proposed method has strong robustness against parameter perturbations and external disturbances, owing to the introduced DOB. Compared with the scheme with ZPETC, the proposed scheme possesses more simple design and better tracking performance. Moreover, it is less sensitive to position command distortion of flight simulator.     

Decentralized adaptive sliding mode control of a space robot actuated by control moment gyroscopes

An adaptive sliding mode control(ASMC) law is proposed in decentralized scheme for trajectory tracking control of a new concept space robot.Each joint of the system is a free ball joint capable of rotating with three degrees of freedom(DOF).A cluster of control moment gyroscopes(CMGs) is mounted on each link and the base to actuate the system.The modified Rodrigues parameters(MRPs) are employed to describe the angular displacements,and the equations of motion are derived using Kane's equations.The controller for each link or the base is designed separately in decentralized scheme.The unknown disturbances,inertia parameter uncertainties and nonlinear uncertainties are classified as a ‘‘lumped" matched uncertainty with unknown upper bound,and a continuous sliding mode control(SMC) law is proposed,in which the control gain is tuned by the improved adaptation laws for the upper bound on norm of the uncertainty.A general amplification function is designed and incorporated in the adaptation laws to reduce the control error without conspicuously increasing the magnitude of the control input.Uniformly ultimate boundedness of the closed loop system is proved by Lyapunov's method.Simulation results based on a three-link system verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller.     

A composite disturbance observer and H_∞ control scheme for flexible spacecraft with measurement delay and input delay

In this paper, the attitude control algorithm of flexible spacecraft with unknown measurement delay and input delay based on disturbance observer is designed. The influence of measurement delay and input delay on the attitude control system and disturbance observer is analyzed. The disturbance estimation error equation is transformed into a differential system with a pure delay. Then, the observer gain is chosen based on the 3/2 stability theorem to ensure the stability and disturbance attenuation performance of the pure delay system. Next, the controller gain is designed based on the Linear Matrix Inequality(LMI) approach to guarantee the stability of the composite system and achieve H_∞ performance with two additive delays. The simulation results show that the proposed method can improve the anti-disturbance ability of the attitude control system.     

Fuzzy robust nonlinear control approach for electro-hydraulic flight motion simulator

A fuzzy robust nonlinear controller for hydraulic rotary actuators in flight motion simulators is proposed. Compared with other three-order models of hydraulic rotary actuators, the proposed controller based on first-order nonlinear model is more easily applied in practice, whose control law is relatively simple. It not only does not need high-order derivative of desired command,but also does not require the feedback signals of velocity, acceleration and jerk of hydraulic rotary actuators. Another advantage is that it does not rely on any information of friction, inertia force and external disturbing force/torque, which are always difficult to resolve in flight motion simulators. Due to the special composite vane seals of rectangular cross-section and goalpost shape used in hydraulic rotary actuators, the leakage model is more complicated than that of traditional linear hydraulic cylinders. Adaptive multi-input single-output(MISO) fuzzy compensators are introduced to estimate nonlinear uncertain functions about leakage and bulk modulus. Meanwhile, the decomposition of the uncertainties is used to reduce the total number of fuzzy rules. Different from other adaptive fuzzy compensators, a discontinuous projection mapping is employed to guarantee the estimation process to be bounded. Furthermore, with a sufficient number of fuzzy rules, the controller theoretically can guarantee asymptotic tracking performance in the presence of the above uncertainties, which is very important for high-accuracy tracking control of flight motion simulators.Comparative experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, which can guarantee transient performance and better final accurate tracking in the presence of uncertain nonlinearities and parametric uncertainties.