A new pitch angle adaptive control design

This paper presents a new pitch angle adaptive control design based on the pitch rate following of a desired trajectory that ensures closed loop satisfactory performance. The pitch rate is under adaptive predictive (AP) control, as previously seen in the literature, but its desired trajectory is produced by a guidance block within a global guidance system structure that ensures automatic pitch angle closed loop performance. Additionally, the guidance block presented in this paper allows satisfactory operation of the automatic pilot in a range of high control frequencies suitable for this kind of application, overcoming stability problems that may arise within these high frequencies by direct application of a pitch angle AP controller. Experimental results obtained by flying a simulated aircraft illustrate comparatively the guidance system performance, and show the robustness of the new design with aerodynamic disturbances.