Integrated flight control design for a large flexible aircraft

A systematic design procedure suited to integrate rigid body and aeroelastic control objectives within the mixed sensitivity framework is proposed for a two-degrees-of-freedom control configuration. It is based on a modal representation and combines stability augmentation, structural mode control and maneuver demand in a single linear parameter-varying (LPV) controller. To demonstrate applicability, an integrated flight control system is designed for the nonlinear model of a large flexible aircraft. The integrated controller is shown to greatly reduce structural vibrations while maintaining handling qualities and robustness margins of a conventional controller.