Design of localizer capture and track modes for a lateral autopilot using H∞ synthesis

This paper presents the results of a design exercise in which the most recent developments in H^∞ synthesis theory were applied to the problem of designing a lateral autopilot for a typical transport airplane. The bulk of the engineering effort in applying these results was in the formulation of an appropriate synthesis model. Once this was done, H^∞ synthesis led to a satisfactory design after only a few iterative adjustments of the weights on the criterion outputs. We conclude that these developments have made H^∞ synthesis an effective tool for multivariable control design.