In-flight Simulation of an Aircraft Using Linear Quadratic Gaussian Controller

Document Type : Case Study

Author

Engineering Department, Islamic Azad University, Damghan Branch, Damghan, Iran

Abstract

The in-flight simulator is one of the various kinds of aircraft simulators at which a real aircraft provides a platform for simulating the dynamic responses of another aircraft. In this paper, the capability of the in-flight simulation of an aircraft by a host aircraft simulator using the linear quadratic gaussian (LQG) controller is presented. Initially, the maximum likelihood algorithm and the flight test data are used to estimate the aerodynamic derivatives of the guest aircraft and consequently drive its high-order aerodynamic model. Then, the linear and nonlinear models of both aircraft in the longitudinal and lateral modes are constructed and the proper LQG controllers are designed for the in-flight simulation of the guest aircraft responses caused by the host aircraft simulator. Next, by applying different commands to the control surfaces of the guest aircraft, its linear and nonlinear dynamic responses are simulated in the longitudinal and lateral modes. Finally, the simulated flight profiles of the guest aircraft are tracked by the host aircraft simulator in the linear and nonlinear schemes. To validate the capability of the LQG controllers for tracking the guest aircraft response, the flight test profile of the guest aircraft is also simulated by the host aircraft simulator.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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AUT Journal of Modeling and Simulation
Volume 52, Issue 1
June 2020
Pages 47-62

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