A nonlinear control approach for a hypersonic vehicle

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to design a robust control system for a generic hypersonic vehicle which includes dynamic nonlinear, open loop unstable and parametric uncertainties. Design/methodology/approach - For a complex longitudinal model of a generic hypersonic vehicle which includes dynamic nonlinear, open loop unstable and parametric uncertainties, a nonlinear dynamic inverse (NDI) approach combined with proportional differential (PD) control is used to design a strong robust control system to deal with the sensitivity to changes of atmosphere condition. In this way, a simple genetic algorithm is used to search a group of parameters of the control system to satisfy the specific performance indices. Then parametric uncertainties are considered to verify the robustness of the control system. Findings - The PD hypersonic vehicle control system using NDI approach can satisfy the specific flight performance. And it has strong robustness under the parametric uncertainties. Originality/value - The paper fulfills a complete process of the nonlinear control system design for a generic hypersonic vehicle. And, the simulation results show the efficiency and robustness of the control system.