Nonlinear control design for slightly nonminimum phase systems - Application to V/STOL aircraft

The paper describes the application of techniques of exact I/O linearization of nonlinear control systems to the flight control of V/STOL aircraft. It is seen that the application of the theory to this example is not straightforward; in particular, the direct application of the theory yielded an undesirable controller. The situation was remedied by neglecting the coupling between the rolling moment input to the aircraft dynamics and the dynamics along the y-axis. An approximate I/O linearization procedure developed for slightly nonminimum phase nonlinear systems is shown to be effective for V/STOL aircraft.