Comparative Study of Different Controllers for Pitch Control of Aircraft

Aircraft motion consists of three basic movements, namely pitch, roll and yaw motions. Through pitching motion the airplane can climb or descend. One of the major aspects in aircraft design is the stability in control. The control systems of the aircraft are designed in such a way that the safety of the passengers and crew members are not compromised and a stable aircraft motion is achieved. Elevators are the primary control surfaces for controlling the aircraft’s pitching motion. A few control schemes can be implemented for stabilising the aircraft pitch control system. A comparative study of three control strategies for controlling the aircraft pitch control system is done here, namely PID control, LQR control and Sliding mode control. After designing the controllers, the system is simulated in MATLAB software. The main objective behind this work is to minimise the transient and steady state specifications, i.e. the rise time, settling time and the percent overshoot. The dynamic performance of the aircraft pitch control system by incorporation of these three controllers are evaluated and analysed separately.