An MPC-Based Control Scheme for an Aircraft Towing and Taxiing System Under Uncertainties

The market of the civil aviation industry has witnessed great growth in recent years and it is estimated to continue to boom in the future. However, at the same time, environmental issues are emerging. To mitigate the conflict, in this paper, a control system based on adaptive MPC and extended Kalman filter is designed for the aircraft towing and taxiing (ATT) system in the application of an autonomous tractor in the airport. First, the kinematics model of the ATT system is established, and then, the model is linearized and discretized for the design of the adaptive MPC controller. Afterward, the cost function is designed considering the trajectory tracking accuracy and passenger comfort simultaneously under safe operation conditions. Several constraints including hitch angle constraints and constraints on control inputs and their relative variables are designed to meet the system requirements. The extended Kalman filter is utilized in the control system for counteracting the potential uncertainties. Finally, simulations in two scenarios are conducted to verify the ability of the designed control system to track the reference trajectory and control inputs while resisting uncertainties. The results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness in operation under uncertainties.