Fuzzy switched H∞ control for flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles

The modeling, guidance and control of flexible air-breathing hypersonic vehicles (FAHVs) is highly challenging and still an open problem because of the complex inherent couplings, the strong flexibility effects, the big flight envelope, the varied parameters and external disturbance. A fuzzy switched H_∞ control design method is addressed for FAHVs in this paper. The big flight envelope of FAHVs is divided into several regions with respect to the chosen switching signals, and the switched H_∞ controller design method is presented. Fuzzy smooth switching condition is also introduced to avoid chattering of the plant at the switching boundaries. A numerical simulation is carried on the FAHVs´ original nonlinear dynamics to show the availability of the design methods.