Path-Following Control for Coordinated Turn Aircraft Maneuvers

This paper addresses the path-following problem of steering an autonomous airplane along a predefined 3-D path, while performing a coordinated turn maneuver. The presented solution relies on the definition of a path-dependent error space to express the dynamic model of the vehicle, and of an output tracking error that guarantees both path-following and coordinated turn compliance. For controller design purposes, the error dynamics are approximated by a polytopic Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) system representation with piecewise affine dependency on the parameters. The synthesis problem is stated as an H2 minimization problem with pole placement contraints, and solved using Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). The nonlinear controller is implemented within the scope of gainscheduling control theory, using the D-methodology. The performance of the designed controller is assessed in simulation, using the full nonlinear model of a small scale airplane.