LPV robust servo control of aircraft active side-sticks
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 30 March 2020
Issue publication date: 28 April 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the variable stick force-displacement (SFD) gradience in the active side stick (ASS) servo system for the civil aircraft.
Design/methodology/approach
The problem of variable SFD gradience was introduced first, followed by the analysis of its impact on the ASS servo system. To solve this problem, a linear-parameter-varying (LPV) control approach was suggested to process the variable gradience of the SFD. A H∞ robust control method was proposed to deal with the external disturbance.
Findings
To validate the algorithm performance, a linear time-variant system was calculated to be used to worst cases and the SFD gradience was set to linear and non-linear variation to test the algorithm, and some typical examples of pitch angle and side-slip angle tracking control for a large civil aircraft were also used to verify the algorithm. The results showed that the LPV control method had less settling time and less steady tracking errors than H∞ control, even in the variable SFD case.
Practical implications
This paper presented an ASS servo system using the LPV control method to solve the problem caused by the variable SFD gradience. The motor torque command was calculated by pressure and position feedback without additional hardware support. It was more useful for the electronic hydraulic servo actuator.
Originality/value
This was the research paper that analyzed the impact of the variable SFD gradience in the ASS servo system and presented an LPV control method to solve it. It was applicable for the SFD gradience changing in the linear and non-linear cases.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under the Grant 10577012, the Chinese Aviation Science Fund under the Grant 20160757001 and thanks for the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.
Citation
Zhou, G.R., Liu, S.Q., Sang, Y.J., Wang, X.D., Jia, X.P. and Niu, E.Z. (2020), "LPV robust servo control of aircraft active side-sticks", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 92 No. 4, pp. 599-609. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-08-2019-0155
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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