Vertical Guidance in Turbulence using Optimal Dynamic Interpolation With Application to a Lockheed L1011-100

The motivation for the work is aircraft guidance in a time controlled air traffic management system (ATM). This paper discusses two forms of optimal dynamic interpolation guidance (ODIG) and the effects of turbulence on its performance. The first form of ODIG is based on a cost functional that penalizes acceleration. The second form of ODIG penalizes both acceleration and velocaty excursion. Both have been applied to the L1011-100 vertical guidance problem in the presence of turbulence (the Dryden turbulence model was used). A flight management system´s (FMS) vertical flight plan is used to obtain waypoints which serve as inputs to the ODIG algorithm. The algorithm produces reference commands which are issued to a certified FAA L1011-100 model and an autopilot. The resulting dynamic behavior is compared to the results obtained from reference commands produced by an L1011-like commercial aircaft´s flight management system model (FMSM) under the same turbulence.