ABSTRACT
Modern Flight Control Systems consist of aerodynamic control surfaces and/or the engines’ nozzles, actuators, sensors, a sampler and ZOH device, and compensators. The control effectors’ actuator dynamics play an important role in flight control. Tracking control in particular in the presence of actuator saturation requires a time-domain approach. Therefore, the objective is the derivation of a receding horizon/model predictive tracking control law, in the case where both fast and slow state variables feature in the plant model. The optimal control solution of the tracking control problem requires advance knowledge of the exogenous reference signal. To apply model predictive tracking control to dynamical systems with time-scale separation, the classical nested feedback control loop structure of the frequency domain is transcribed into the time domain. Using feedback of the gyro signals, motors apply moments to the gyros to make the angular velocity of the platform zero.
