Tracking control for air-breathing hypersonic cruise vehicle based on tangent linearization approach

This paper is focused on developing a tracking controller for a hypersonic cruise vehicle using tangent linearization approach. The design of flight control systems for air-breathing hypersonic vehicles is a highly challenging task due to the unique characteristics of the vehicle dynamics. Motivated by recent results on tangent linearization control, the tracking control problem for the hypersonic cruise vehicle is reduced to that of a feedback stabilizing controller design for a linear time-varying system which can be accomplished by a standard design method of frozen-time control. Through a proper model transformation, it can be proven that the tracking error of the designed closed-loop system decays exponentially. Simulation studies are conducted for trimmed cruise conditions of 110 000 ft and Mach 15 where the responses of the vehicle to step changes in altitude and velocity are evaluated. The effectiveness of the controller is demonstrated by simulation results.