Lateral-directional control for a fixed wing vehicle based on the total energy control system approach

This paper is about a control design for the lateral-directional dynamics of a fixed wing aircraft. The objective is to command the lateral-directional dynamics to the equilibrium point that corresponds to a coordinated turn. The proposed control is inspired by the total energy control system technique; with the objective of mixing the ailerons and the rudder inputs. The control law is developed directly from the nonlinear aircraft model. Numerical simulation results are presented to show the closed-loop system behavior.