6DOF flight control of fixed-wing aircraft by Trajectory Linearization

In this paper, Trajectory Linearization Control (TLC) is used to design a six degree-of-freedom, autonomous, trajectory-tracking controller for a fixed-wing vehicle dynamics model. TLC combines an open-loop dynamic inverse of the plant dynamics with a closed-loop tracking-error regulator that accounts for model mismatch, disturbances, and excitation of internal dynamics. Feedback gains are obtained symbolically as a function of the nominal trajectory, thus avoiding the use of gain scheduling, and enabling operation across the full flight-envelope without the need for mode switching. The design method is presented, and trajectory tracking simulation results are given for a climbing, bank-to turn maneuver.