Multi-Variable Control of an Integrated Propulsion and Airframe System

Abstract

The development of an integrated control scheme to enhance the performance of a generic interconnected multi-variable dynamical system, consisting of a turbofan engine and an airframe, in the presence of predominantly destructive dynamical interactions over the flight envelope is considered in this paper. The control scheme consists of two components: a simple static forward loop or feedback loop precompensator to improve the interactions followed by a forward or feedback loop controller to improve the performance. The system must be tolerant to soft and hard output sensor failures by means of analytic redundancy only. A control methodology to satisfy the above specifications is presented here. Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented in order to achieve a stable closed-loop performance of the overall system by tuning every loop separately, that is decentralized stability.