Application of orthogonal eigenstructure control to flight control design

Orthogonal eigenstructure control is used for designing a control law that decouples the dynamic modes of a flying vehicle. Orthogonal eigenstructure control is a feedback control method for linear time invariant multi-input multi-output systems. This method has been recently developed by authors. The advantage of this control method over eigenstructure assignment methods is that there is no need for defining the closed-loop poles or shaping the closed-loop eigenvectors. This method eliminates the error due to the difference between achievable and desirable eigenvectors, by finding vectors orthogonal to the open-loop eigenvectors within the achievable eigenvectors set and replacing the open-loop eigenvectors with them. This method is also applicable to the systems with non-collocated actuators and sensors. Application of this method for designing a flight control law for the lateral directional dynamics of an F-18 HARV is presented, and compared to the results of an eigenstructure assignment method. In this case study, the actuators and sensors are not collocated. It is shown that the application of the orthogonal eigenstructure control results in a more significant dynamic modes decoupling in comparison to the application of the eigenstructure assignment technique.