A blending strategy for missile autopilots using the simplex method

In recent years, there has been considerable work aimed at extending the flight envelope of aerospace vehicles beyond the stall limits. Controlled flight in post-stall was shown to be achievable by adding independent propulsive actuation, to compensate for the loss of aerodynamic effectiveness. The presence of added controls, however, requires an appropriate and optimized input management system. The present paper presents a novel approach to input blending, based on linear programming techniques, leading to the selection of an equivalent control capable of reducing the conflict between inputs during the control task, and aiding in the feedback synthesis process. The methodology is validated using typical aerospace control examples