| In aggressive nonlinear flight maneuvers, conventional linear time-invariant based flight control design approaches may not perform well. In this thesis, a nonlinear flight control design method, namely state-dependent Riccati equation, is investigated as an alternative to the conventional approach in these situations. Meanwhile, linear quadratic regulator theory is used as the conventional benchmark. The two approaches are compared through simulation of a dive recovery and collision avoidance maneuver on a flight training device. It was demonstrated in the experimental flight scenario that the chosen nonlinear approach was able to yield superior performance to the conventional benchmark. |
