Nonlinear control of longitudinal flight dynamics

Abstract

This paper presents the nonlinear analysis and control of a third-order model for longitudinal flight dynamics. Bifurcation analysis using numerical study for F-8 aircraft reveals that Hopf bifurcations may occur at some critical values of the elevator commands. These results agree with the well-known nonlinear phenomena existed in longitudinal flight dynamics. Furthermore, bifurcation control using both washout filter and direct state feedback are applied to develop the stabilizing laws for system equilibria and periodic solutions emerged from bifurcation points. Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate these main results.