Analysis and Tuning of a ' Total Energy Control System' Control Law using Eigenstructure Assignment

Kurzfassung

The Total Energy Control System (TECS) is a complete airplane longitudinal dynamics flight control concept for autopilot operational control modes and Fly-By-Wire command augmentation for civil airplanes. Unlike conventional strategies, it facilitates fully integrated control of the airplane elevator and engines. This system, which is based on simple proportional and integral control of the energy states of the airplane, is much easier to design and understand than most conventional airplane controllers. This paper describes why the high visibility of the two input, two output command augmentation structure of TECS is an improvement over current flight control system architectures. Deriving a control law for TECS is currently a heuristic process. However, there is potential for tuning to be done more systematically, and this is examined by using eigenstructure analysis and assignment. To illustrate the concepts, a linear model of the longitudinal dynamics of the Aerospace Technologies Demonstrator (ATD) airplane is used. A heuristically designed TECS controller for this model is first described. The controlled airplane is then analysed using eigenstructure analysis and the results are utilised to produce an improved TECS controller for the ATD model using eigenstructure assignment.