Demonstration of the Optimal Control Modification for General Aviation: Design and Simulation

This paper presents the design and simulation of a model reference adaptive control system for general aviation, using the Optimal Control Modification (OCM). The controller is based on previous adaptive control research conducted at Wichita State University (WSU) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center. The control system is designed for longitudinal control of a Beech Bonanza given pilot commands of pitch rate and airspeed. Three variations of the OCM adaptation are presented, utilizing 3 different parameterizations of the adaptive signal. The first is called OCM-Linear (OCM-L), where the adaptation output is linearly related to the aircraft states. The second variation is called OCM-Bias (OCM-B), which is only a bias adaptation output. The third is a combination of the previous two methods called OCM-Linear and Bias (OCMLB). The controllers are designed and simulated with a nonlinear aircraft model of the Beech Bonanza.