Experimental design of H∞ weighting functions for flight control systems

This paper introduces an experimental solution for H_∞ weighting function selection by exploiting an experimental planning method which has been used in quality control. Conducting matrix experiments using special matrices, called orthogonal arrays, allows the effects of several weighting parameters to be determined efficiently so that the resulting H_∞ controller can satisfy many design specifications simultaneously in the environment for which the controller is designed. To show the feasibility and efficiency of this methodology, a flight control system for an airplane is designed to satisfy 11 performance specifications simultaneously, while the airplane is undergoing a large shift in e.g. position.