Robust Pitch Rate Control Augmentation System for an F-16 Aircraft

Abstract

Military aircraft technologies are strategic research subjects of study. In particular, the concept of the fifth-generation fighter jet pushes the boundaries of technology. In this context, the control systems used in these aircraft are becoming more and more sophisticated. In this paper, a novel robust pitch rate control augmentation system is proposed for an F-16 aircraft. Two design objectives are determined for the design of this control system: (i) the aircraft follows the reference pitch-rate command in an agile way; (ii) ensuring the robust stability against enormous moment disturbances that may occur during the flight. An 𝐻∞ control approach is used in the design of this control system for both ensuring the stability and a good performance. Finally, this proposed control structure is verified with the nonlinear F-16 flight simulations. The performance of the proposed controller is compared to the classical controller approach. It is shown that the proposed controller both performs a fast pitch rate tracking and quickly suppresses the enormous pitching moment disturbance that the classical controller cannot cope. Thus, with the robust controller design, flight safety is provided in the case of adverse flight conditions.

Keywords

• flight control
• robust control
• 𝐻∞ control
• f-16 aircraft
• flight simulation