Design of an Optimal Yaw Damper for 747 Jet Aircraft Model

摘要

The theory of optimal control is concerned with operating a linear dynamic system at a minimum cost. It also provides the best possible performance with respect to given measure of performance index. This paper presents the design of an optimal control law for yaw damper of an aircraft model. This modern controller based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) technique is stable, robust, and optimized with respect to energy. It is compared and analyzed with classical controller available in the literature. The classical controller uses washout filter which is well known in aircraft control design. The comparative assessment is based on time response specification performance for a yaw control system of an aircraft. The LQR-based controller has effectively taken care of Dutch roll mode which is an area of concern in lateral dynamics of aircraft. The performances of yaw control systems are investigated and analyzed based on common criteria of impulse response in order to identify which control strategy delivers better performance with respect to the desired bank angle and yaw rate. Simulation is carried out for 747 jet aircraft model using MATLAB and Simulink. According to simulation results, LQR controller delivers better performance than classical controller.