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Abstract:
Using the results of BAI's Self-Designing Controller technologies, BAI provided on-line identification and adaptive control systems that allow the aircrafts designed without a vertical tail to stabilize and recover nominal performance in a wide variety of failures and flight conditions.

Problem:
How does one apply the reconfigurable control methods developed in the self-designing control project to a future aircraft configuration? Key challenges include accommodating numerous innovative effectors (such as Spoiler-Slot-Deflectors, All-Moving wing Tips, and Thrust Vectoring), their interactions, and instabilities that arise when an aircraft is designed without a vertical tail.

Solution:
Working with Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, BAI integrated the methods developed under the Self-Designing Controller with command shaping and control allocation algorithms designed to accommodate the numerous effectors. Piloted simulation results demonstrated the ability of the algorithm to stabilize and recover nominal performance for a wide variety of failures and flight conditions. Aviation Week has cited the crucial role of BAI's algorithms as an enabling technology for this type of tailless aircraft design. [Aviation Week & Space Technology, pp. 57, 63, 64, Nov. 11, 1996.]

Publications
Material not yet presented in the open literature. Publications will be deferred until preliminary patent has been filed.

Links and Reference:
Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division

Patuxent River NAS, MD

Technical Monitor: Marc Steinberg