ABSTRACT
The design of the robust flight control system (PCS) for the VISTA F-16 of Fig. 1.5 was accomplished by an Air Force Institute of Technology student who is an F-16 pilot. He was able to utilize his real-world knowledge of the aircraft and its handling qualities to achieve the desired robust PCS. Traditionally, flight control engineers have taken a conservative, brute force approach to designing a full envelope PCS for an aircraft. First, many design points, which for this design were points representing airspeed vs altitude, within and along the border of the flight envelope plot were selected. Second, individual compensator designs were accomplished for each of these points. Third, smooth transitions between these compensators must be engineered Making the transitions imperceptible to the pilot is very difficult and time-consuming because each airspeed-altitude design point can be approached from an infinite number of initial conditions. Obviously, if the number of the design points can be reduced, thus reducing the number of transitions required, the design process can be made more efficient, and the resulting PCS is less complex.
