Flight Control Design using Backstepping

Today the prevailing nonlinear design method for aircraft flight control is feedback linearization. This paper presents a new method to deal with the nonlinear aerodynamic forces and moments acting on the aircraft: backstepping. Specifically, we derive backstepping control laws for angle of attack and sideslip control that requireless knowledge of the lift and side forces compared to feedback linearization designs. The control laws are made adaptive to errors in the aerodynamic moment coefficients using nonlinear observer techniques