Research on advanced flight control methods based on actuator constraints for elastic model of hypersonic vehicle

Powerful actuators are both indispensable and critical components for the flight control system of hypersonic vehicles. More importantly, the performance of actuators has substantial impact on the control ability; therefore, when designing the control system, one needs to fully take into account actuator restraints in order to meet the efficient and precise control demands under complex flight conditions. In this article, the advanced flight control methods concerned with actuator limitations are discussed for hypersonic vehicles. First, the longitudinal model of hypersonic vehicle is established with consideration of the nonlinear coupling dynamics. Second, the actuator constraints with the effect of elastic deformation are introduced to this built model and then the resulting unstable dynamics characteristic and the control limitation conditions are analyzed for hypersonic vehicle. Furthermore, the advanced flight control laws are designed by using the differential geometry principle and the total energy theory. Finally, simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed methods for hypersonic vehicle.