Colloquium: Ramzi Shahin (C&O)

The Flying-V's aerodynamically favorable shape promises significant reductions in emissions and noise pollution. However, its configuration also presents a number of stability and control related challenges. These result in unfavorable handling qualities throughout parts of its flight envelope. To enhance the handling qualities of the Flying-V, Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (INDI)-based flight control systems have been proposed. INDI, a sensor-based alternative to conventional Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (NDI), does not depend heavily on accurate on-board models (OBM), thereby offering increased robustness to aerodynamic uncertainties. However, singular perturbations—such as time delays, aeroelastic effects, and additional unmodeled or unknown dynamics—have been identified as challenges for INDI-based control laws. In this research, a multi-loop, DGK-iteration based synthesis approach is applied to the design of robust inversion-based flight control laws for the Flying-V in the presence of mixed perturbations. It is demonstrated that a multi-loop synthesis approach, in combination with a hybrid Incremental dynamic inversion architecture, results in the best robust stability and performance.

Supervisor: Dr. ir. Erik-Jan van Kampen