International Journal of Control, Vol.59, No.1, 221-238, 1994
The Control-System Design Methodology of the STOL and Maneuver Technology Demonstrator
The integrated flight/propulsion control system development of the ’STOL and Manoeuvre Technology Demonstrator’ was unique in several aspects. Thrust reversing and pitch vectoring were fully integrated into the night control system so that they they were transparent to the pilot across the complete night envelope. Various pilot-selectable modes were designed into the control system to allow in-flight comparison of different factors, such as flying qualities optimized for flight path control or for pitch tracking, and architectures featuring conventional or decoupled landing control laws. The control laws were designed and implemented using a combination of classical and multivariable techniques. The classical technique included a novel inverse process of designing directly to the equivalent system transfer function satisfying the flying qualities specification. The linear quadratic gaussian multivariable technique was used for the modes/axes with the most complex requirements. The rationale is presented for the choices of which design was implemented for flight. Many flying qualities requirements were subject to special interpretation or redefinition through this development. This paper documents the complete control system design development from customer specification through the successful flight test programme.