Terminal area guidance along curved paths : a stochastic control approach to digital flight compensation

Abstract

In this paper, stochastic control theory is applied to the problem of designing a digital flight compensator for terminal area guidance along a helical flight path as a prelude to landing. The development of aircraft, wind and measurement models is discussed along with a control scheme consisting of feedback gains multiplying estimates of the aircraft and wind states obtained from a Kalman one-step predictor. Preliminary results are presented which indicate that the compensator preforms satisfactorily in the presence of both steady winds and gusts. Finally, a derivation of the control and predictor equations is presented in the appendix.