An implementation of an output tracking dynamic discrete-time sliding mode controller on an aircraft simulator

This paper describes the implementation of a new discrete time sliding mode scheme for control of the longitudinal motion of an aircraft. The discrete sliding mode control scheme requires only measured outputs - i.e. a subset of the states, and is dynamic in nature. The scheme imposes only minor restrictions on the system theoretic properties and in particular does not require the system to be minimum phase. The controller has been implemented on a real time all vehicle simulator (RTAVS) configured to represent a modern two engined fighter aircraft. The results which are presented are from some experiments which have been carried out in real-time where manual pilot input commands have been used to drive the system