Nonlinear Bank-to-Turn autopilot design for hypersonic gliding vehicle

This paper presents the design and simulation of a Bank-to-Turn (BTT) autopilot for a hypersonic gliding vehicle. Based on the two-time scale assumption, the flight control system is divided in to two loops: the dynamics of fast state (inner loop) and slow state (outer loop). Autopilot is designed for each loop. The method used to design the autopilot relies on trajectory linearization and is realized through two controller subdesigns. The first design problem involves finding a nonlinear dynamic inverse for the plant. The second design involves designing a trajectory stabilizing controller using a Parallel D-eigenvalue stability concept developed for linear time varying (LTV) systems. Finally, two simulations are given to test the autopilot's performance.