Flying qualities based time-varying stability augmentation system design for tiltrotor conversion control

Abstract

Tiltrotors have three flight modes that pose control problems and quality defects during the conversion process. To address this, a novel flying qualities-based time-varying stability augmentation system is designed to achieve multi-mode, nonlinear, and time-varying stability. The system integrates a nonlinear time-varying control law with the flying qualities requirements for all three flight modes. It consists of an inner and outer loop control framework, where the control law in the inner loop is designed based on the Lyapunov theorem of stability. The reference models in the outer loop are derived from the flying qualities criteria to meet level one flying qualities requirements. To evaluate the conversion process, a time-varying flying qualities evaluation method is developed, which includes the conversion path, pilot model, and time-varying flying qualities index. The proposed time-varying stability augmentation control system is then tested through simulation during the conversion process. A pilot-aircraft closed-loop system is established for conducting experiments. Comparison between simulation results and pilot-in-loop experiment results demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed control system. Furthermore, it proves that the evaluation method is suitable for analyzing time-varying systems. This research can be valuable in designing and evaluating stability augmentation controls for strongly time-varying systems.