Constraint Control System Design for Double-Body Aircraft and Implementation on a Simulation Platform

Abstract

In this paper, the modeling, open-loop analysis, and design of the constraint control system of the double-body aircraft are discussed. In a double-body aircraft configuration, two identical aircraft are connected using a one degree-of-freedom (1DOF) joint about the longitudinal body axis (hinges at the wingtips). Due to the long-term flight of the aircraft at high lift coefficients and the very high aspect ratio (AR) of the aircraft, controlling the angle of attack and the yaw rate is crucial to staying within safety limits. Additionally, the constraint control algorithm must be implementable in microprocessors to minimize weight and energy consumption. In the present research, a centralized control system with a sliding mode command governor (SMCG) is proposed to address these issues. First, the double-body aircraft was modeled using the Newton-Euler method. A nominal control system was designed with a linear control law, and then a SMCG is presented. To validate the constraint control system, numerical simulation and experimental testing were performed using a double-body simulation platform. The simulation and experimental test results indicate that the proposed control system performs well, with no deviation of the desired states from the limitations accrued.