Customer Reviews

Aircraft Control and Simulation

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The chief virtue is its clarity. I've worked directly in this field since 1986, and wish I'd picked up the 1st edition in 1992 rather than finding the 2nd edition in 2006. Most of the material I've picked up through coursework and on-the-job training, but this book presents a thorough, practical and understandable development of each aspect of aircraft control and simulation. In addition, the 1st chapter provides the basis for incorporating oblate, rotating Earth equations into gravitational and kinematics modeling, which is the reason I bought the book.

Roughly, the book covers:
* Kinematics and Dynamics
* Quaternions
* Properties of Aircraft
* Simulation, Trim, Linearization
* Linear Analysis
-- State Space Models
-- Transfer Functions
-- Frequency Response
* Handling Qualities
* Stability Augmentation
* Autopilots
* Linear Quadratic Regulator
* Model Following Design
* Multivariable Frequency Domain Analysis
* Observers and the Kalman Filter
* Discrete (Digital) Control

NOTE: The 1st chapter of the 2nd Edition is substantially enhanced vs. the 1st chapter of the 1st Edition. Several practical needs are now covered in better detail. Quaternion math is added. An algorithm for converting from Earth-centered Inertial coordinates to Geodetic Latitude and Altitude for an oblate Earth model is now provided. If a flat Earth model is ok to use, the 1st Edition is a very good aircraft controls book. If a rotating oblate Earth model is also required, only the 2nd Edition will do.

This book, in my opinion, is a must have book for any aircraft controls engineer. Very practical so you don't get lost in the theory, and it uses an F16 linear model throughout the book (for example problems) so the numbers mean something as opposed to other books that just have random numbers in the examples. It's also easy to read and it gives matlab and fortran code for most example problems. I recommend the 2nd edition because more informations was added and nothing taken away from the 1st edition.

This book covers classical and modern aircraft control techniques in a easy way to understand, including continuous-model discretization.

I'm a flight controls engineer and this book is all I need to do my job. I had been looking for something that dealt with the subject from a modern controls perspective, but most other books either only deal with classical controls, or were written using strange (European) notation and conventions. The authors start out with the equations of motion, assuming only that this is a rigid body. Most other books just go straight to the linearized decoupled equations and make a lot of hand waving when it comes to including wind or time varying derivatives. Next they cover design of all standard control loops from a SISO approach and finally delve into modern design techniques. To find this much material, you'd normally need to consult several books, and then you probably wouldn't have any MIMO examples that apply to a real airplane. The book does present code examples, but consider these only references. If you're interested in doing this for a living, you'll have to learn how to code in Matlab and possibly C/C++ (take it from me, I actually do this for a living). Consider this a modern version of either Blakelock or Roskam. Unlike those other guys, this book does have solved examples.

This book is quite good, but it is not perfect. There is 1 minor error and a very minor issue in the F-16 simulation with which I disagree. One thing it probably should emphasize more are servo rate limitations. Also, performance limitations of feedback loops are not discussed.

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1st Error:
On pages 526-527, the author cites an erroneous result from a publication by John Doyle and Gunter Stein in 1981.

Counter example:
Using the notation in this section. G(s) = 1/s, M(s) = 5, K = 1.
The sensitivity of (1+(1+5)*1/s*1)^-1 is stable. however, the condtion of max_sigma[ GK*(1+GK)^-1 ] < 1/|M(s)|, is violated at low frequency since 1 is not less than 0.2

The singular value conditions in the book are a sufficient but not necessary for closed loop stability. One can fix this error by simply changing the "iff" statements to "if" statements on p. 527.
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2nd Opinion:
This is a very subtle problem and I have personally made the error of summing forces and moments at the wrong place or miscalculating angle of attack or sideslip in my research efforts. There are probably many other simulation codes that make this mistake. Arguably, this is more of an opinion than a legitimate error because the aerodynamic data can be taken from tests where the static angle of attack and sideslip are measured.

There should not be a substantial difference in simulation or linearized results when making these proposed changes.

The "problem" is in the computer code of the F-16 model on p. 184. The problem arises when XCG is not 0.35, otherwise the code is accurate. Basically, the "problem" occurs on the 14th line of uncommented code that reads:

VT = X(1); ALPHA = X(2)*RTOD; BETA = X(3)*RTOD

The issue is that the aerodynamic look-up tables could be using the wrong ALPHA and BETA when XCG is not 0.35.

The ALPHA and BETA values come from the euler 6-DOF equations of motion which may not be located at 0.35c. However, the aerodynamic tables need an ALPHA and BETA that does occur at 0.35c. Therefore, one needs to translate the 6-DOF velocities, which may not be at 0.35c, to ALPHA and BETA values which do occur at 0.35c.

The reason this is not a legitimate error and more of an opinion is that the aerodynamic data is probably purely static. The aerodynamic data corresponds to cases where p = q = r = 0 and the AOA and sideslip angle should be uniform across the entire body. If one wanted to adopt this point of view, then no changes should be made to the code.

If one wanted to change things, we can assume that there are arctangent and arcsine subroutines, ATAN() and ASIN(), respectively. The code can be modified as follows (although it is a matter of opinion):

VT = X(1); CBTA = COS(X(3)); U = VT*COS(X(3))*CBTA
V = VT*SIN(X(3)); W = VT*SIN(X(2))*CBTA
P = X(7); Q = X(8); R = X(9)
ALPHA = ATAN((W-Q*(XCG-XCGR))/U)*RTOD
VTEMP = SQRT(U**2+(W-Q*(XCG-XCGR))**2+(V+R*(XCG-XCGR))**2)
BETA = ASIN((V+R*(XCG-XCGR)/VTEMP)*RTOD

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Aside from these issues, this is a pretty good book and I have used it a lot. For those on a budget, this is fairly good compilation of flight dynamics and control.

It is probably too ambitious to completely cover every aspect of aircraft dynamics and control with one book. For those who have deep pockets and want to know more, buy separate books on control and flight dynamics. "Control Systems Design" by Graham Goodwin and "Multivariable Feedback Control" by Sigurd Skogestad are some good control books, although there are many others. [...].

As an aerospace engineer I consider this book an absolute must have. This book is usable as a reference work but also as a academic course textbook. It is extremely complete: From vector and quaternion kinematics to rigid body dynamics to static stability analysis. From basic aerodynamics to the derivation of aircraft force and moment coefficients. From state space models to robust output feedback design. Summarizing: Aircraft Control and Simulation covers the complete track from basic dynamics to a fully functional flight simulator. When you need a graduate level text on simulation and control theory that can also serve as a reference work you should look no further!

This book is not meant to cover Flight Mechanics neither to discussing Aircraft Equations of Motion.
This book is really focused in aircraft flight simulation (not aircraft systems simulation) and aircraft flight controls.
This is really the most complete reference concerning flight control laws for all flight phases. The authors make extensive use of Modern Control in State Space formulation. Very few topics use Classical Control.
The text is undoubtedly a very good starting point for any engineer involved in flight controls and flight control laws design for new aircraft concepts, although, some more dedicated discussions are missing on some topics related to the newest technologies such as Fly-By-Wire, Power-By-Wire, Side stick use versus Flight Handling Qualities, Robust Control and Predictive Controls.
This book is a MUST for any flight controls engineer in introductory level. However, attention, you will need to take classes to go through this book. The authors do not delay the text flow to discuss minor details or lengthy mathematical derivations; they simply jump to the right point. Thus, this is very difficult to go through the whole content without help of an experienced Professor.

Used this book as a reference book for a UAV Guidance and Control class. Worked well, but there is a revised and updated version.

As an engineering student, I like the design of this book, 1st. And the contents are also pretty nice, so far. The complete review, however, should be done after reading the last page, I think.

This book is an excelent reference for anyone who works on, has an interest in or has studied the design and modeling of aircrafts. Its explainations are very clear and understandable