μ-Synthesis controller design GLA for the longitudinal flexible aircraft

A μ-synthesis Controller design is presented to study the robust performance for the vertical acceleration control of a B-52 longitudinal aircraft model with flexibility taking into account specific input and output multiplicative uncertainty models. The aircraft is assumed to be flexible and subjected to severe wind gusts causing undesirable vertical acceleration. We use the Von Karman gust power spectral density model to guide the performance specifications and control designs, as well as for time-domain simulations. Motivation for the use of H∞ nominal performance baseline specification is given in terms of the interpretation of the power spectral density for the atmospheric turbulence Von Karman model. The H∞ optimal controller is shown to minimize the effect of wind gusts on the aircraft vertical acceleration. A μ-synthesis controller design using the D-K iteration procedure is used to achieve robust performance.