Computation of worst-case pilot inputs for clearance of flight control laws

Authors:	Menon Prathyush, University of Leicester, United Kingdom Bates Declan G., University of Leicester, United Kingdom Postlethwaite Ian, University of Leicester, United Kingdom
Topic:	7.3 Aerospace
Session:	Aircraft Control Analysis and Optimization
Keywords:	Flight control, Global Optimization, Robustness Analysis, Simulation

Abstract

In this paper, global optimisation and nonlinear simulation areused to search for the worst-case control demands which may beinput by a pilot flying a modern high performance aircraft with afull authority flight control law. The flexibility of globaloptimisation methods is exploited to simultaneously search forworst-case pilot inputs and worst-case combinations of uncertainparameters in the nonlinear aircraft simulation model. Theimportance of explicitly considering uncertainty in the aircraftmodel is clearly demonstrated by the results obtained.