Nonlinear instability suppression of closed-loop pilot-vehicle system with rate-limiting actuator based on anti-windup compensation

To solve the flight safety problem caused by nonlinear instabilities (category II pilot induced oscillations, PIOs) of the closed-loop pilot-vehicle system with rate-limiting actuator, the anti-windup (AW) compensation method to avoid category II PIOs is investigated. Firstly, the AW compensation method originally used for controlling input magnitude limited system is introduced, then this method is extended for controlling input rate-limiting system through a circle criterion theorem. Secondly, the establishment of the AW compensator is transformed into the solving of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, an AW compensator establishment algorithm for the closed-loop pilot-vehicle system with the rate-limiting actuator is obtained. The effectiveness of the AW compensation method to avoid category II PIOs is validated by time-domain simulations, and compared with rate-limited feedback (RLF) command rate compensation method. The results show that the AW compensation method can effectively suppress category II PIOs and maintain the nominal performance when the closed-loop pilot-vehicle system is normal. Unlike the command rate compensator which works upon system uninterruptedly, the AW compensation method affects the closed-loop pilot-vehicle system only when the rate-limiting of actuator is activated, so it is a novel PIO avoidance method.