Date of Award

12-1995

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Constantine Houpis, PhD

Second Advisor

Meir Pachter, PhD

Abstract

Fault tolerant flight control systems for combat aircraft are an alternative to excessively redundant aircraft designs or reconfigurable control laws. However, due to the range of flight conditions within a combat aircraft's operational flight envelope, the variety of its configurations, and the unavailability of an aerodynamic data base for damaged aircraft, designing fault tolerant systems is a complicated endeavor. Quantitative Feedback Theory is a robust control design technique especially well-suited to manage the structured parametric uncertainty inherent in this problem, and consequently is applied as the primary design tool for this research. Furthermore, realistic failure models are developed for the VISTA F-16 and physical saturation constraints are applied to the control effectors. The ensuing fault tolerant design is subjected to realistic control inputs and validated with the applicable MILSTD specifications.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GE-ENG-95D-04

DTIC Accession Number

ADA312406

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