Conversion Flight Control for Tiltrotor Aircraft via Active Disturbance Rejection Control

Ke Lu,Senkui Lu,Renliang Chen,Hongyuan Tian,Pan Zhen

doi:10.3390/aerospace9030155

Abstract

The tiltrotor aircraft consists of three primary flight modes, which are helicopter flight mode in low forward speed flight, airplane flight mode in high forward speed flight and conversion flight mode. This paper presents an active disturbance rejection controller for tiltrotor aircraft conversion flight. First, a tiltrotor aircraft flight dynamics model is developed and verified. Then, conversion flight control laws, designed via the active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) and sliding mode control (SMC) techniques, are proposed for the tiltrotor aircraft with model uncertainties and external disturbance, which are estimated with an extended state observer. Finally, the simulation of automatic conversion flight is carried out, which shows the effectiveness of the developed controller.

Highlights

A tiltrotor aircraft is a hybrid aircraft that combines the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of an airplane [1], i.e., it has the features of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft
The results showed that model inversion control can provide an effective design tool for the flight control of the tiltrotor aircraft
The flap setting of the tiltrotor aircraft is adjusted with the change of flight speed during the conversion flight process

Summary

Introduction

A tiltrotor aircraft is a hybrid aircraft that combines the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of an airplane [1], i.e., it has the features of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft. It uses the rotor-generated thrust to take off like a helicopter, and with the nacelles horizontal, it uses the thrust to move forward like a fixed-wing aircraft. The most well-known tiltrotor aircraft is the XV-15. The XV-15 tiltrotor was jointly developed by the U.S Army, NASA and the U.S Navy. The tiltrotor has three flight modes: helicopter mode, when nacelle angle is 0◦ , airplane mode, when nacelle angle is 90◦ , and conversion mode, when nacelle angle is between 0◦

Methods

Results

Conclusion