Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics

Under the European Space Agency (ESA) support, INCAS has taken the initiative to develop an Ascent and Descent Autonomous Maneuverable Platform (ADAMP) which will serve as an in-flight testing platform for reusable space technologies. This paper is focusing on activities aimed at assessing the robus...

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Main Authors: Tudorel-Petronel Afilipoae, Pedro Simplicio, Samir Bennani, Hans Strauch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Aerospace
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/12/1021
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author Tudorel-Petronel Afilipoae
Pedro Simplicio
Samir Bennani
Hans Strauch
author_facet Tudorel-Petronel Afilipoae
Pedro Simplicio
Samir Bennani
Hans Strauch
author_sort Tudorel-Petronel Afilipoae
collection DOAJ
description Under the European Space Agency (ESA) support, INCAS has taken the initiative to develop an Ascent and Descent Autonomous Maneuverable Platform (ADAMP) which will serve as an in-flight testing platform for reusable space technologies. This paper is focusing on activities aimed at assessing the robustness of the control system of the ADAMP in the presence of aerodynamic disturbances, with an emphasis on stability and disturbance rejection. Considering the ADAMP’s inherent aerodynamic instability, the way aerodynamic forces and moments are incorporated in the control design formulation plays a critical role in the effectiveness of the adopted control solution in the presence of wind gusts and potential interaction with sloshing modes. To showcase these phenomena, two alternative control design methodologies are employed in the paper: the baseline strategy relies on robust self-scheduled structured H-Infinity optimization, while the second approach is based on nonlinear sliding mode theory. Different structured H-Infinity controllers are designed and analyzed in the frequency domain, providing a clear understanding of the impact of the aerodynamic effects in terms of stability margin degradation. These controllers are then thoroughly compared with the sliding mode alternative via nonlinear worst-case simulation of typical ascent and descent flights in the presence of strong wind gusts.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2226-4310
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Aerospace
spelling doaj-art-a613f68f6f0d44a5a3fb0d1954b6d9b32024-12-27T14:02:33ZengMDPI AGAerospace2226-43102024-12-011112102110.3390/aerospace11121021Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of AerodynamicsTudorel-Petronel Afilipoae0Pedro Simplicio1Samir Bennani2Hans Strauch3INCAS—National Institute for Aerospace Research “Elie Carafoli”, B-dul Iuliu Maniu 220, 061126 Bucharest, RomaniaEuropean Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, The NetherlandsEuropean Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, NL-2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands3db-Consult, 28219 Bremen, GermanyUnder the European Space Agency (ESA) support, INCAS has taken the initiative to develop an Ascent and Descent Autonomous Maneuverable Platform (ADAMP) which will serve as an in-flight testing platform for reusable space technologies. This paper is focusing on activities aimed at assessing the robustness of the control system of the ADAMP in the presence of aerodynamic disturbances, with an emphasis on stability and disturbance rejection. Considering the ADAMP’s inherent aerodynamic instability, the way aerodynamic forces and moments are incorporated in the control design formulation plays a critical role in the effectiveness of the adopted control solution in the presence of wind gusts and potential interaction with sloshing modes. To showcase these phenomena, two alternative control design methodologies are employed in the paper: the baseline strategy relies on robust self-scheduled structured H-Infinity optimization, while the second approach is based on nonlinear sliding mode theory. Different structured H-Infinity controllers are designed and analyzed in the frequency domain, providing a clear understanding of the impact of the aerodynamic effects in terms of stability margin degradation. These controllers are then thoroughly compared with the sliding mode alternative via nonlinear worst-case simulation of typical ascent and descent flights in the presence of strong wind gusts.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/12/1021sloshingstructured H-Infinity controlsliding mode controlVTVLrobust controlwind disturbance
spellingShingle Tudorel-Petronel Afilipoae
Pedro Simplicio
Samir Bennani
Hans Strauch
Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
Aerospace
sloshing
structured H-Infinity control
sliding mode control
VTVL
robust control
wind disturbance
title Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
title_full Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
title_fullStr Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
title_full_unstemmed Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
title_short Stability and Control During Vertical Take-Off and Landing: The Impact of Aerodynamics
title_sort stability and control during vertical take off and landing the impact of aerodynamics
topic sloshing
structured H-Infinity control
sliding mode control
VTVL
robust control
wind disturbance
url https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/11/12/1021
work_keys_str_mv AT tudorelpetronelafilipoae stabilityandcontrolduringverticaltakeoffandlandingtheimpactofaerodynamics
AT pedrosimplicio stabilityandcontrolduringverticaltakeoffandlandingtheimpactofaerodynamics
AT samirbennani stabilityandcontrolduringverticaltakeoffandlandingtheimpactofaerodynamics
AT hansstrauch stabilityandcontrolduringverticaltakeoffandlandingtheimpactofaerodynamics