Combined dynamic inversion and QFT flight control of an unstable high performance aircraft

Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) is a control system synthesis, technique that directly considers system uncertainties and disturbance magnitudes when formulating closed-loop control algorithms. Dynamic Inversion is a nonlinear control system design technique that relies on accurate mathematical models to compute control inputs producing arbitrary system responses. Both techniques have been applied to unstable high performance aircraft flight control, and produced effective aircraft controllers. Both techniques have certain drawbacks: Nonlinear QFT controllers tend to be unnecessarily conservative (the computed controllers have excessive bandwidth) because known system properties are treated as “unknown” disturbances during loop synthesis. Meanwhile Dynamic Inversion control is sensitive to differences between assumed mathematical models and actual system dynamic properties. Combining the two control techniques provides the benefit of both while suffering the drawbacks of neither, as demonstrated by Single Input, Single Output (SISO) control of a constant airspeed, no roll, no yaw nonlinear model of the F-16 aircraft, and by Multi-Input, Multi-Output (MIMO) control of a full six-degree-of-freedom version. Design performance of the combined controllers is verified by reduced actuator efforts and by reduced sensor noise to actuator input (U( s)/n(s)) transfer function magnitudes compared to standard QFT versions.