FUZZY CONTROL LAW OF HIGHLY MANEUVERABLE HIGH PERFORMANCE AIRCRAFT

A synthesis of fuzzy variable structure control is proposed to design a high-angle-of-attack flight system for a modification version of the F-18 aircraft. The knowledge of the proportional, integral, and derivative control is combined into the fuzzy control that addresses both the highly nonlinear aerodynamic characteristics of elevators and the control limit of thrust vectoring nozzles. A simple gain scheduling method with multi-layered fuzzy rules is adopted to obtain an appropriate blend of elevator and thrust vectoring commands in the wide operating range. Improving the computational efficiency, an accelerated kernel for on-line fuzzy reasoning is also proposed. The resulting control system achieves the good flying quantities during a high-angle-of- attack excursion. Thus the fuzzy logic can afford the control engineer a flexible means of deriving effective control laws in the nonlinear flight regime.