Application of adaptive control with closed-loop reference models to a model aircraft with actuator dynamics and input uncertainty

This paper presents an adaptively augmented LQR controller for the FSD ExtremeStar, a high agility model airplane. Uncertainties in the control effectiveness are compensated by a direct model reference adaptive controller (MRAC), which uses closed-loop reference models (CRMs). Simulation results on a nonlinear plant with actuator dynamics and sensor models indicate that the CRM adaptive controller provides additional robustness to plant uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics compared to the classical MRAC architecture, where an open-loop reference model is employed.