Unmanned Research Vehicle (urv): Development, Implementation, & Flight Test of a Mimo Digital Flight Control System Designed Using Quantitative Feedback Theory

The Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) design technique, which has the ability to bridge the gap between theory and the real-world control design problem, is utilized in the design of a MIMO digital flight control system for an unmanned research vehicle (URV) that is presented in this paper. The design illustrates how the “real-world” knowledge of the plant to be controlled and the desired performance specifications can be utilized in trying to achieve a successful robust design for a nonlinear control problem. This paper presents ome of the issues involved in developing, implementing, and flight testing a flight control system (FCS) designed using QFT. Achieving a successful FCS involves a number of steps: specification of the control problem, aircraft model data, theoretical flight control system design, implementation, ground testing, and flight test. The last three steps embody the “practical engineering” aspects that are vital to achieving a successful FCS. The main emphasis of this paper is on these steps, First, there is a brief explanation of the MIMO design QFT process. This is followed by a description of the steps involved in the implementation and testing of a QFT designed FCS. Thus, this presentation provides an overview of “using robust control system design to increase quality” in attempting to demonstrate the “Bridging the Gap” between control theory and the realities of a successful control system design. In facing the technological problems of the future. it is necessary that engineers of the future must be able to bridge Ihe gap, i.e., this “Bridging the Gap” must be addressed to better prepare the engineers for the 2 I It century.