Improved prescribed performance control for air-breathing hypersonic vehicles with unknown deadzone input...

Area of Science:

• Aerospace Engineering
• Control Systems Theory
• Nonlinear Dynamics

Background:

• Hypersonic vehicles face challenges due to uncertain dynamics and input nonlinearities.
• Traditional control methods struggle with non-affine models that require differentiability.
• Existing approaches can lead to complex derivations and control input chattering.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an improved prescribed performance controller for the longitudinal dynamics of air-breathing hypersonic vehicles (AHVs).
• To address challenges posed by semi-decomposed non-affine models with potentially non-differentiable functions.
• To ensure altitude and velocity tracking within specified performance envelopes with enhanced robustness.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a semi-decomposed non-affine model, relaxing differentiability constraints.
• Introduced a novel error transformation and prescribed performance functions.
• Employed a backstepping control design technique.
• Designed a controller with low structural and computational complexity.

Main Results:

• Guaranteed altitude and velocity tracking errors within specified transient and steady-state envelopes.
• Demonstrated excellent robustness against uncertain dynamics.
• Showcased effective handling of deadzone input nonlinearity.
• Simulation results validated the proposed controller's efficacy.

Conclusions:

• The proposed controller effectively manages uncertain dynamics and input nonlinearities in AHVs.
• The novel approach simplifies control design and avoids high-frequency chattering.
• The methodology provides reliable performance for hypersonic vehicle longitudinal control.