Review of Flight Controller Synthesis Algorithms for the F-16 Fighter Aircraft.

What is it about?

This paper implements and compares powerful Lyapunov-based algorithms for designing H-infinity Static Output Feedback (SOF) controllers. The algorithms were bundled into a toolbox named SOFHi and computational improvements were made with respect to the original implementation. It was shown that the methods are competitive to the well-established non-smooth optimization methods HIFOO and hinfstruct, while even outperforming one of them. Lastly, an elaborate flight example is made, designing a normal acceleration Control Augmentation System (CAS) for the F-16 meeting military requirements.

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Photo by Guy Croisiaux on Unsplash

Photo by Guy Croisiaux on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The findings of this paper showcases that Lyapunov-based SOF controller synthesis methods are highly competitive to non-smooth optimization methods in terms of the H-infinity performance index, while using a more elegant and transparent approach.