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Nonlinear Adaptive Flight Control of a Hypersonic Vehicle

PhD - Proposal Sanchito Banerjee

Table of Contents
1 2 Brief Overview of Study.............................................................................................................. 3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4 2.1 2.2 3 4 5 6 Rationale ................................................................................................................................ 4 Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 5

Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 6 Methodology................................................................................................................................. 9 Approach to Analysis ................................................................................................................ 10 Timeframe and Resources Required ....................................................................................... 11

References ........................................................................................................................................... 12

List of Figures
Figure 1. Longitudinal Control Loop [2]........................................................................................... 4 Figure 2. Hypersonic Glider - complete flight dynamics model [2] ............................................. 5 Figure 3. Flow Diagram - Adaptive Control Setup ......................................................................... 8 Figure 4. Project Work Flow. ............................................................................................................ 10 Figure 5. Gantt chart .......................................................................................................................... 11

1 Brief Overview of Study


Hypersonic flight presents major challenges to airframe and control systems engineers. High velocity can cause a hypersonic vehicle to be highly sensitive to changes in flight conditions that can result in instability or weakly damped transient oscillations of the airframe [5]. The design problem is further compounded by the fact that hypersonic aerodynamic parameters, as predicted from ground tests and/or theoretical computational methods, may not reflect the actual flight parameters; there are significant uncertainties in the parameter values required for airframe and control system design. This proposal outlines the area of work and highlights the gaps in knowledge in the area of control for Hypersonic Vehicles (HSV). Thereafter, it presents the methodology and the approach of this research project which will be carried out at the Centre for Hypersonics at University of Queensland.

Introduction

In order to appropriately design control laws for hypersonic vehicles, it is paramount to understand how the flight dynamics are impacted by the interactions between the aerothermodynamics, propulsion system, structural dynamics, and control system. To this end, there has been a significant investment into the modelling of these sub-systems and their integration into a comprehensive model that can be used to characterise the flight dynamics of scramjet-powered hypersonic aircraft and still remain amenable to control law design and analysis [1].

2.1 Rationale
Creagh in [2] has presented a preliminary design and simulation results of an adaptive longitudinal control system for a Mach 8 hypersonic glider. The system that has been implemented is placed in the figure below. The block on the left, acceleration ramp up/down is just a testing tool for the algorithm. The figure below depicts just one loop of the figure placed in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Longitudinal Control Loop [2]

The above figure only depicts the longitudinal control loop of the hypersonic glider. This simplified model is used in [2] to carry out the simulations. In the figure above, the control loop with respect to the lateral dynamics have not been considered. However in order to

have a full nonlinear adaptive controller for this system, it is important to incorporate the lateral dynamics in the model.

2.2 Purpose
The purpose of this research is to carry out the following tasks: An adaptive flight control system for a nonlinear Hypersonic Vehicle. Carry out simulations of the adaptive flight control system. Determine the lateral dynamic behavior of the vehicle. And of particular interest is to determine the coupling of the lateral and longitudinal dynamics and its effect on the adaptive controller design.

Establish the maximum aerodynamic error that can be tolerated for such a controller.
This is of much usefulness to the aerodynamicists. The full model, lateral and longitudinal, of the hypersonic glider is placed in the figure below. An example of a full system has two control loops and the basic form of the guidance and model parameter estimations. The two main components of the system are: a longitudinal acceleration controller and a lateral heading hold controller [2].

Figure 2. Hypersonic Glider - complete flight dynamics model [2]

3 Literature Review
Hypersonic flight presents major challenges to airframe and control system designers. High velocity can cause a hypersonic vehicle to be highly sensitive to changes in flight conditions (Mach Number M#, and angle of attack ) that can result in instability or weakly damped transient oscillations of the airframe. The design problem is further compounded by the fact that hypersonic aerodynamic parameters, as predicted from ground tests or theoretical computational methods, do not reflect the actual flight parameters; there are significant uncertainties in the parameter values required for airframe and control system design [5]. Examples of these uncertainties include the effects of travelling at such Mach numbers on the structural integrity and also the effects of shocks. The formation of strong shocks around aerodynamic bodies means that the free stream Reynolds number is less useful as an estimate of the behaviour of the boundary layer over a body. Consequently, conventional techniques do not always lead to a design that is stable and at the same time robust to parameter uncertainties. In literature there are several papers that discuss the challenges pertaining to the dynamics and control of a hypersonic vehicle [3]. Bolender in [1] outlines the different concepts that have developed over time to deal with the issue of control of hypersonic vehicles (HSVs). These include a comprehensive longitudinal model of the HSV with the help of Newtonian Impact Theory. Thereafter Boelender himself in [1] provides a model with the combination of the structural, aerothermodynamic, and propulsion system coupling inherent in scramjet powered vehicles. The final product of this article captures many of the effects of the diverse physical phenomena that present challenges to flight control law designers. Apart from the disturbances that cause oscillations of the HSV, the flow characteristics also have a significant impact on the stability and control of the HSV. This is covered in [5] and the main characteristics of flow are that:

The shock waves originating at the leading edge of the body lie close to the body so that the interaction with the body is strong.

High temperatures exist in the regions between the shock waves and the body and it may be necessary to consider real gas effects (molecular vibration, dissociation, and ionisation) when analysing the flow fields.

At very high Mach numbers, the shock waves may be assumed to be almost identical to the body, at least at the front portion of the body, and the molecules crossing the shock waves conserve the tangential component of the velocity but lose most of the normal component.

Poulain in [3] outlines some of the methods used to control the longitudinal motion of a HSV. These include the use of linear control theory, dynamic inversion and sliding mode control. Each method has its shortfalls. Linear control offers a simple and efficient way to locally stabilize most of (stabilisable) dynamics process, with large possibilities of perfect tuning. However, aerospace systems are often supposed to operate in a wide range of multidimensional state excursions. This supposed to investigate controller interpolation. This may leads to local instability and makes the global behaviour study complex. Dynamic inversion based control laws allow to handle these difficulties. Nevertheless, they lead to complex control structures, embedding huge amount of information in the controller, usually not available in practice. From this point of view, sliding mode control provide a way to control the vehicle addressed here which override these difficulties. However this method is prone to introduce chattering unhealthy high frequency actuators excitation which strongly diminishes its efficiency. Craegh in [2] takes the previous work further to present an adaptive controller for the longitudinal dynamics of a Mach 8 Hypersonic Glider. The system architecture in a three tier system to obtain the estimates of model aerodynamics parameters. The process is outlined in the flow diagram overleaf.

Linear Least Squares

used to obtain the state transition methods and control matrix parameter estimates from a second order plant model.

Fusion Algorithm

weights preloaded lookup table parameters and the least squares estimated parameters to obtain a fused estimate. The least-squares estimates are favoured when system excitation is present, while lookup table parameters are favoured when system excitation is negligible. The selection of measurement variances, lookup table parameter variances and sampling data provides the system tuning input.

Update Lookup Tables

The third tier of the adaptive control strategy is to update the lookup tables with a multiplying factor, which is calculated with a first-order filter. This enables the parameter estimates to retain trends learnt from earlier in the mission. Thus, for slow and consistent parameter changes, the closed-loop vehicle response is seen to improve slightly

Figure 3. Flow Diagram - Adaptive Control Setup

However as Craegh points out in [2] that due to the inherent lag of the system outlined above, this system is not suitable in its current form for an up-and-over trajectory profile. It may be suitable for vehicles that visit the same flight conditions multiple times (i.e. const altitude & Mach). There are also improvements that could be made. From the literature covered so far, the following gaps were found in the knowledge:

There is limited literature discussing the aerodynamic limits within which the baseline controllers function.

4 Methodology
The research will follow on from the work outlined by Dr Michael Creagh in [2]. The main areas of work where this particular project (outlined in full in [2]): 1. A nonlinear adaptive control model to enhance the understanding of the flight dynamics of the hypersonic vehicle. This model will include the aerodynamic effects of travelling at Mach 8 and the changes will be incorporated into the control model. Results for this part of the research will be as a result of running simulations of the control systems on the in-house code developed by the Centre for Hypersonics. 2. Experimental validation of the nonlinear adaptive control system. This section of the research will concentrate on building a physical model of the control system and carrying out tests to verify the simulation results. 3. An understanding of hypersonic aerodynamics such that aerodynamic errors may be characterised and its impact on the baseline controller understood and depicted in the model.

5 Approach to Analysis
The main approach methodology that will be used during the course of this research project is split into two main sections. The first section of the project looks at the theoretical development of the control system. The second part of the research will look at experimental validation of the simulation results obtained from part 1. The stages of this project are outlined in the following flow diagram.

Phase A: Literature Review and Initial Research

Phase B: Becoming familiar with inhouse tools of analysis

Phase C: Initial implementation of Models

Phase D: Simulations and Experimentatl Validation

Phase E: Validation and Data Presentation

Publications

Figure 4. Project Work Flow. In order to answer these research questions a rigorous approach to the control system modelling and testing and subsequent applications of the results is taken. These include:

Building up the knowledge in the field of nonlinear control, adaptive control and high speed gas dynamics.

Determination of the aerodynamic limits of the baseline controller. Formulation and implementation of a nonlinear and adaptive control system model of the hypersonic vehicle.

Investigation of the coupling effects of the lateral and longitudinal dynamics and its implications on the control system design.

Simulation of the control system. Development of a final report, publications and recommendations.

6 Timeframe and Resources Required


A Gantt chart is placed below as a proposed breakdown of the time to be used on each section of the research project.

Initial Research Simulation Tool Introduction Initial Simulation Exercises Literature Review Standard 6DOF controller implementation Aerodynamic limits of baseline controller Adaptive controller design Adaptive Controller implementation Design of Testing for model Testing of Model and validation Thesis Presentation

DATE (TIME)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Figure 5. Gantt chart

References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bolender, M. 2009. An Overview on Dynamics and Control Modelling of Hypersonic Vehicles. American Control Conference. Creagh, M and Beasley, P. 2011. Adaptive Control for a Hypersonic Glider using Parameter Feedback from System Identification. America Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Poulain, F. 2010. Nonlinear Control of a Airbreathing Hypersonic Vehicle. Journees des Theses, 25(27). Wilcox, Z. 2010. Nonlinear Control of Linear Parameter Varying Systems with Applications to Hypersonis Vehicles. http://ncr.mae.ufl.edu/dissertations/wilcox_z.pdf (Accessed October 14, 2011) Coleman, C. 2009. On Stability and Control of Hypersonic Vehicles. http://dspace.dsto.defence.gov.au/dspace/bitstream/1947/10037/1/DSTO-TR-2358%20PR.pdf (Accessed October 14, 2011).

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