Software Engineering Institute

In this report, we present preliminary results on the design of the baseline controller for an F-16 aircraft automatic landing system using linear matrix inequalities (LMI)-based approaches. We start with a general study of aircraft control and dynamics to gain knowledge of the structure of an aircraft dynamic model and its inner loop control system. We then identify a linear model along the glide path for the inner loop control system in the simulator. With this linear model, the control objective is to solve a stabilization problem—stabilizing the aircraft along the glide path using linear state feedback controls. Expressing the stability criterion and the constraints in LMIs, we cast the stabilization problem as an optimization problem. Using the SDPSOL software package developed by Wu and Boyd, we solve this optimization problem for the control gain and stability region, which completes the controller design [Wu 96].