Date of Award

Summer 2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Committee Director

Oscar R. Gonzalez

Committee Member

W. Steven Gray

Committee Member

Dimitrie C. Popescu

Abstract

The NASA Modeling and Control for Agile Aircraft Development (MCAAD) program seeks to develop new ways to control unknown aircraft to make the aircraft development cycle more efficient. More specifically, there is a desire to control an aircraft with an unknown mathematical model using only first principles of flight. In other words, rather than using a rigorously developed mathematical model combined with wind-tunnel tests, a controller is sought which would allow one to bypass the development of a rigorous mathematical model and enter wind-tunnel testing more directly. This paper presents the design of a fuzzy PID controller, governed by a fuzzy supervisory system which incorporates knowledge of first principles of flight, to control a model-less aircraft's pitch dynamics in a free-to-pitch wind-tunnel environment. This hybrid structure is implemented using a PID controller constructed from independent fuzzy inference systems and augmented in real time by a supervisory system also constructed of independent fuzzy inference systems. Experimental results of the pitch control performance and real-time adaptivity capabilities are presented for both aerodynamically stable and unstable aircraft models.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/8e62-nc73

ISBN

9780438537774

ORCID

0000-0002-2112-2969

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