Aircraft Longitudinal Control based on the Lanchester's Phugoid Dynamics Model

This paper presents a longitudinal aircraft controller inspired by the polar equation of the hodograph, one of the invariants of the Lanchester's phugoid dynamics. The control design procedure follows the considerations made by Lancaster to develop the Phugoid dynamics, this is, the angle of attack is quasi-static. Then, it is possible to design a longitudinal aircraft dynamics controller that requires knowing the elevator control derivative coefficient, and the aircraft physical characteristics. The control design procedure assumes a known structure for the aircraft aerodynamic characteristics. Closed-loop stability properties rely on considering that the angle of attack is small and boundedness of the lift coefficient. Numerical simulations using the X-Plane flight simulator validate the proposed controller.