Flight path control design for glide-slope tracking by backstepping

This paper develops the flight path angle control for the glide-slope tracking via backstepping design. A candidate controller structure for an aircraft glide-slope tracking is presented. Using the backstepping procedure to synthesize a glide-slope tracking control law is different from designing the guidance and control loops separately in autopilot. The derived glide-slope control law is much simpler and easier to construct with localizer controller. Nonlinear 6DOF simulation results demonstrate that the backstepping tracking law can effectively guide the aircraft along the glide-slope centerline until the flare control before touchdown.