For aerospace vehicles with uncertainty, strong nonlinearity, and high-performance requirements, the model predictive control (MPC) method has attracted many researchers’ attention with its unique advantages. Although this method has a good effect, it is computationally expensive, especially for the nonlinear MPC. In addition, it cannot guarantee the stability performance requirements and limited flexibility in dealing with large initial errors. To overcome these limitations, this article is implemented to obtain a control scheme that can handle uncertainty, initial deviation, and has less online calculation. To ensure the stability requirements, the guardian maps (GM) theory is combined with multimodel predictive control, and a switching rule based on GM is proposed. Then, fully considering the characteristics of linear matrix inequalities used, the idea of “offline design and online optimization” is adopted to solve the control law, which reduces the burden of online computing. Furthermore, in the case of large initial errors, a transient trajectory design method is established to reconstruct the trajectory online, and to modify the tracking command. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the designed control scheme.

This study investigates the optimal design problems for the hypersonic morphing vehicle. The correlations among the shock wave variation, propulsive performance, and control effect are discussed. The inversion design methods are applied to calculate the aerodynamic forces and moments of the hypersonic morphing vehicle based on the theories of the hypersonic computational mechanics. Then, the hypersonic morphing vehicle model is built, and the optimal performance indexes reflecting the waverider flight characteristics considering the appropriate flight conditions and the initial model parameters are presented. Furthermore, the variable metric algorithm is used to iteratively optimize the performance function. The optimum model parameters for the hypersonic morphing vehicle are then obtained with the control requirements. Finally, the effectiveness of the optimal design methods is verified by simulation. In general, the designs are preliminarily completed, along with the synthesis of the shape, aerodynamic force, propulsion, and the control action. We believe that this study provides helpful information on hypersonic morphing vehicles to guide future research.

This paper discusses a learning algorithm for nonlinear aircraft systems, which targets the weaknesses of datadriven algorithms, mainly poor generalization ability and limited interpretability. It handles these constraints by integrating physical information with data-driven techniques. Referred to as the Physics-Informed SINDY (PI-SINDY) framework in this paper, it improves the standard SINDY algorithm, to tackle strongly time-varying nonlinear flight systems. This method incorporates the physical information described by the aircraft's differential kinematic equations into the SINDY algorithm, and also can deal with the effects of measurement noise, making it more robust and practical. The proposed method displays higher robustness and generalization ability in comparison with the original SINDY algorithm and the WSINDy method, as confirmed by simulation results. Finally, we use the nonlinear system model learned with the suggested method for tracking control to supplement its efficiency.

Powerful actuators are both indispensable and critical components for the flight control system of hypersonic vehicles. More importantly, the performance of actuators has substantial impact on the control ability; therefore, when designing the control system, one needs to fully take into account actuator restraints in order to meet the efficient and precise control demands under complex flight conditions. In this article, the advanced flight control methods concerned with actuator limitations are discussed for hypersonic vehicles. First, the longitudinal model of hypersonic vehicle is established with consideration of the nonlinear coupling dynamics. Second, the actuator constraints with the effect of elastic deformation are introduced to this built model and then the resulting unstable dynamics characteristic and the control limitation conditions are analyzed for hypersonic vehicle. Furthermore, the advanced flight control laws are designed by using the differential geometry principle and the total energy theory. Finally, simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed methods for hypersonic vehicle.

With the development of high-performance aircraft, precise air data are necessary to complete challenging tasks such as flight maneuvering with large angles of attack and high speed. As a result, the flush air data sensing system (FADS) was developed to satisfy the stricter control demands. In this paper, comparative stuides on the solving model and algorithm for FADS are conducted. First, the basic principles of FADS are given to elucidate the nonlinear relations between the inputs and the outputs. Then, several different solving models and algorithms of FADS are provided to compute the air data, including the angle of attck, sideslip angle, dynamic pressure and static pressure. Afterwards, the evaluation criteria of the resulting models and algorithms are discussed to satisfy the real design demands. Futhermore, a simulation using these algorithms is performed to identify the properites of the distinct models and algorithms such as the measuring precision and real-time features. The advantages of these models and algorithms corresponding to the different flight conditions are also analyzed, furthermore, some suggestions on their engineering applications are proposed to help future research.