Flight parameter analysis of an L1 adaptive controller of a hypersonic glider

This paper presents an analysis of the flight parameters and uncertainties that a HiFire 4-like hypersonic glider experiences through a pull up and a bank maneuver along the descent part of a suborbital ballistic trajectory. The paper addresses a number of long-standing challenges of automatic control of hypersonic vehicles that exhibit numerous aerodynamic and structural uncertainties over a wide Mach-altitude flight envelope. A full-state feedback stabilizing controller that is augmented by an L adaptive controller is implemented to control the vehicle. Furthermore, the controllers are able to bring the vehicle to the right initial conditions at an altitude of 26 km to start a − scramjet, which are q ∼58 kPa at a speed of Mach 6