Flight Control Technology Advancements and Challenges for Future Rotorcraft 40th Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lecture

Abstract

The goal of my 40th Alexander A. Nikolsky Honorary Lecture and journal paper is to highlight the key flight control technology advances of the past 50 years and demonstrate how these advances are being applied and extended to the new family of rotorcraft: modern high-speed military rotorcraft, eVTOL urban air mobility, and advanced air mobility aircraft. The first part of this journal paper reviews flight control technologies drivers that are unique to rotorcraft and highlights key advances of the past 50 years in the areas of handling-qualities requirements (ADS-33), physics-based models, system identification, and flight control. A central theme is the shift from time-domain to frequency-domain based characterization of the closed-loop response and design methods for rotorcraft that have become increasingly dependent on sophisticated feedback control systems to achieve closed-loop stability, disturbance rejection, and most importantly closed-loop handlingqualities response for all-weather operations. Frequency-domain analysis, design, and test methods of the past 50 years are highlighted relating key advances in each discipline and two integrated example success stories. In the second part of this paper, we consider the key challenges, advancements, and needed future research for four new classes of rotorcraft: the military future vertical lift family of high-speed rotorcraft, unmanned autonomous systems/urban air mobility based on fielded conventional helicopters, small electric VTOL unmanned aerial vehicle rotorcraft, and larger eVTOL urban air mobility rotorcraft. The next sections look across the challenges and solution spaces that are common to these four new classes of rotorcraft as a blueprint for needed research advances. Finally, this paper takes a step back and considers the lessons-learned and key takeaways from the author's perspective as a career-long flight control engineer/researcher, Flight Control Technology Group leader, and senior technologist.