A NOVEL METHOD FOR FLIGHT CONTROL LAWS ROBUSTNESS ANALYSIS OVER UNSTEADY TRAJECTORIES

A novel approach to flight control laws robustness analysis is presented, aimed at improving the efficiency of the clearance process with respect to conventional techniques, especially when applied to vehicles following time–varying reference trajectories. The approach exploits the convexity of LTV systems, coupled to an approximate description of the original nonlinear system by a certain number of its time-varying linearizations. The method effectiveness and potentials are ascertained by application to the longitudinal flight control laws clearance of the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA) experimental vehicle USV