APPLICATION OF RESTRUCTURABLE FLIGHT CONTROL-SYSTEM TO LARGE TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT

The authors have proposed a night control system that is able to accommodate failures occurring with the airframe as well as the control effecters. It is based on the feedback linearization method and on-line parameter identification. This paper presents such a system designed for large transport aircraft. The primary contribution is the use of stabilators or engines for feedforward control inputs to counteract disturbances caused by stuck central surfaces. Those effecters are too slow to be used along with other fast control surfaces. However, they can produce large forces or moments, which implies that taking advantage of them would help the aircraft recover from failures. Performance of the control system is demonstrated through computer simulation using a six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear aircraft model of the Boeing 747 aircraft.