Flight Parameter Analysis of an L1 Adaptive Controller of a Hypersonic Glider

This paper presents an analysis of the flight parameters and uncertainties that a HiFire 4-like hypersonic glider experiences through a pull up and a bank maneuver along the descent part of a suborbital ballistic trajectory. The paper addresses a number of long-standing challenges of automatic control of hypersonic vehicles that exhibit numerous aerodynamic and structural uncertainties over a wide Mach-altitude flight envelope. A full-state feedback stabilizing controller that is augmented by an L1 adaptive controller is implemented to control the vehicle. Furthermore, the controllers are able to bring the vehicle to the right initial conditions at an altitude of 26 km to start a scramjet, which are q-=similar to 58 kPa at a speed of Mach 6.