A self-designing receding horizon optimal flight controller

A self-designing controller (SDC) for flight control could provide a cost-effective means for developing controllers for new aircraft by eliminating analyst-intensive off-line design of numerous individual controllers, each optimized for a single flight condition. Additionally, the SDC could improve the capabilities of existing aircraft by enhancing control performance in new flight regimes and by reconfiguring appropriately for sudden changes such as may result from airframe and/or effector impairment(s). In this paper, the authors present a self-designing controller based on a receding horizon linear-quadratic control law that uses a robust least squares-based online system identification technique. This approach provides: 1) robust real-time tracking of time-varying parameters, 2) efficient optimal control-law computations, and 3) ability to incorporate transient response shaping (flying qualities) directly into the control law. The authors demonstrate the response and reconfiguration capabilities of the SDC using linear and nonlinear F-16 aircraft simulations.