Showing papers in "Automation and Remote Control in 1998"

Energy approach to flight control

Abstract: Very hopeful methods based on energy management have arisen in flight control sciences recently. The Total Energy Control (TEC) principle is the most remarkable. In this paper the TEC principle has been modified for the purpose of expanding its use to include vehicles with substantially nonlinear aerodynamics. To resolve this problem a correction signal has been added to the TEC system control law. This correction has shown benefits for encounters with powerful microbursts. An energy balance equation for the "vehicle - power plant - surroundings" system has been derived by considering aircraft flight as translated motion of a point-mass in a potential force field under the action of not only external but also internal forces. A rational structure for thrust controller design and for director index formed on the pilot's display follows from the energy balance equation. It also provides a graphic indication of hazardous microburst zones that in turn aids the pilot to overcome them. Consideration of the aircraft flight from the energy point of view makes it possible to solve many problems of flight control uniformly using a common methodological basis, i.e. the energy approach has been elaborated in our work.