Flight control reconfiguration using adaptive methods

The problem of reconfigurable flight control is investigated, focusing on model reference adaptive control and least-squares identification algorithms. Results for the implementation of an input error direct adaptive control algorithm are given. A detailed aircraft model is used in simulations. An emphasis of the discussion is on the multivariable nature of the adaptive control problem. The results demonstrate the ability of the adaptive algorithms to maintain level flight after a failure, to restore tracking of the pilot commands despite the loss of actuator effectiveness, and to coordinate the use of the remaining active control surfaces to guarantee the decoupling between the rotational axes. The applicability and the benefits of a recently-proposed stabilized algorithm for recursive least-squares identification are also demonstrated