Incremental Nonlinear Control Allocation for an Aircraft with Distributed Electric Propulsion
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Authors
Heer, P. de
Visser, C.C.
Hoogendoorn, M.L.
Jentink, H.W.
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AIAA
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This research was funded from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 945583. This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.
Abstract
Description
In this paper, a new nonlinear control allocation method is presented for a distributed
electric propulsion (DEP) aircraft. As the electric propellers can be used actively for control,
in addition to the control surfaces, the DEP aircraft is over-actuated. This freedom in control
effectors can be exploited with an appropriate control allocation method. All control effectors
are, therefore, captured in the incremental nonlinear control allocation (INCA) method, which
allows taking into account effector nonlinearities and interactions introduced by the propellers.
The INCA method is based on a real-time updated Jacobian model of the control effectiveness,
thereby solving an efficient linear control allocation problem. This paper reformulates the
original INCA method to optimize the control allocation for minimal propeller power, resulting
in more efficient flight. A model predictive control (MPC) controller is added as an actuator
dynamics compensation method. This ensures that the commanded control inputs from the
INCA controller are achieved. The new controller is compared to a standard incremental
nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI) controller with a translational and rotational loop. It is
shown in simulation that by combining INCA with MPC, the tracking performance is improved
and efficiency increased by 6.1%.