An analog investigation has been made to determine the capability of a proportional-type lateral control system of providing aerodynamic heading-angle control of a vehicle having a maximum lift-drag ratio of 2.0 during reentry into the earth's atmosphere. Heading-angle changes were accomplished by means of a heading-angle-command step input to control equations which caused the vehicle to assume a roll attitude. Both roll and Dutch roll damping were augmented. The investigation was conducted at altitudes of 100,000, 150,000, and 210,000 feet. Control-system gains were varied at each of these flight conditions in an effort to determine the effects of these gains on the vehicle response. Results indicate that a sideslip-rate damper was superior to a yaw rate damper in minimizing the magnitude of sideslip angle during roll. Though it was found necessary to adjust control-system gains at each flight condition for the most desirable vehicle response (minimum sideslip, rapid heading-angle response), results indicate that a partial relaxation of these desirable responses could simplify the system with the result that only one of the many control-system gains, the roll damper gain, need be varied with flight condition.
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