Robust controller design for a morphing aircraft based on SRAD

Military and civil aviation are requiring higher performance for the aircrafts in recent years. The morphing techniques can effectively improve aircraft´s performance to meet the customer´s multi-mission requirement for the aircraft. To get the optimal aerodynamic performance under different flight conditions, the aircraft must change its aerodynamic configuration adaptive to specific condition. In the changing process, the aircraft´s characteristics, such as aerodynamic coefficients, center of weight, and moment of inertia, will change significantly. A robust controller for the variable-sweep and variable-span aircraft is designed based on the Stochastic Robustness Analysis and Design (SRAD) method. The morphing and maneuvering process is simulated with a morphing UAV´s nonlinear model. The results show that the pitch angle can track step command during the aircraft´s morphing process, and the controller has strong robust performance.