Book Description

A study of the feasibility of a self-learning adaptive system for the flight control of high performance aircraft has been performed. A flight control system was developed for the investigation of the stability augmentation of the longitudinal axis of the F101B aircraft using self-learning adaptive control. The learning adaptive controller developed employs a three-loop concept. The innermost loop comprises a linear feedback control system in which a set of control gains is adjusted by a second (adaptive) loop employing a parameter identifier and a trainable function generator (automation). The automation provides the correct values of feedback gain in response to patterns derived from the identified aircraft parameters. The third loop (the learning loop) measures control system performance, and continually retrains the automation to improve the performance. Experiments were performed with a digital simulation of the aircraft and the learning adaptive control system. Results of the experiments indicate that learning adaptive control is feasible. However, a number of significant technical problems must be overcome prior to the use of such a control system in tactical aircraft. Studies of sensitivity must be performed to assess the effect of small perturbations in the identification parameters on system performance. Extended studies of property extraction from the identified parameters is required, and means for further simplifying the control structure is of importance in a real system. (Author).