Suboptimal adaptive control system for flight quality improvement

In this paper, the suboptimal algorithm of adaptive control system is presented, which is specially adjusted for automatic flight control systems of general aviation and commuter aircraft, and unmanned aircraft (UMA) that conduct flights in atmospheric turbulence. At first, the method could be applied for correcting these changes in flight dynamics parameters, which cannot be compensated with the aid of an open adaptation loop. At the same time, full identification of aircraft model in real time is not required. This method is based on the estimation of most typical parameters of the aircraft mathematical model, which are most closely related to parameters, which are unmeasurable during flight, like aircraft real mass and position of center of gravity. The structure of an adaptation algorithm of aircraft flight control laws is based on the expert knowledge in the field of flight dynamics and is the result of optimization calculations. The examples which show attaining better flight comfort of the PZL M20, “Mewa” general aviation aircraft and quality improvement of the UMA, “Vector” pitch angle automatic control, have been presented.