Aircraft terrain following based on a nonlinear continuous predictive control approach

This paper discusses aircraft terrain-following flight control law development based on a new nonlinear optimal predictive control method. The control law minimizes the predicted difference between the actual trajectory and a smooth open-loop reference trajectory that satisfies the aircraft dynamic model. A fixed-point algorithm is used to compute sequentially the tracking control commands from the implicit control law. Globally asymptotically stable tracking of the reference trajectory is proved in the absence of control saturation, and the influences of the controller parameters on the tracking dynamics are identified. Numerical simulations are presented for a supersonic fighter aircraft model over a standard test terrain. These simulations include the effects of initial condition errors, aerodynamic modeling inaccuracies, and vertical wind disturbances.