Inverse Optimal Control Design of a VTOL Aircraft

TL;DR

This paper introduces an inverse optimal control method for a simplified VTOL aircraft model, utilizing a Control Lyapunov Function to enhance control design and robustness, with comparisons to existing feedback linearization techniques.

Contribution

It proposes a novel inverse optimal control law based on CLF for VTOL aircraft, demonstrating improved robustness over traditional feedback linearization methods.

Findings

The inverse optimal control law outperforms feedback linearization in robustness.

The control approach effectively manages the coupled, non-minimum phase dynamics of VTOL.

Comparative analysis shows enhanced efficacy of the proposed method.

Abstract

A Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft is capable of short/vertical takeoffs and landings, thus eliminating the requirement of long runways. This feature makes them suitable for a broader variety of missions, generally not achievable by a traditional aircraft. The dynamics of the VTOL aircraft in the vertical plane has been used as a benchmark problem to demonstrate the effectiveness of different nonlinear control techniques, mainly due to being highly coupled and non-minimum phase. This paper presents the design of an inverse optimal control for a simplified VTOL aircraft model. The proposed control law is based on a Control Lyapunov Function (CLF) which exploits the normal form typically used for control design through feedback linearization. The suggested control law is compared with dynamic feedback linearization based control law and a comparison is drawn based on their efficacy and robustness.