A SYNTHETIC PID GAIN TUNING FRAMEWORK FOR ROBUST PITCH ATTITUDE CONTROL OF SLENDER AIRFRAMES

Theophilus Fashanu; Lanre Adetoro; Ayotunde Ayorinde; Olumuyiwa Asaolu; Micheal Ogundero

doi:10.4314/njt.v43i3.13

Authors

T. A. Fashanu Department of Systems Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
L. M. Adetoro National Agency for Space Research and Development, FCT Abuja, Nigeria.
A. A. Ayorinde Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
O. S. Asaolu Department of Systems Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
M. A. Ogundero Department of Systems Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4314/njt.v43i3.13

Keywords:

Airframe Vibrations, Algorithm Development, PID Gains Auto-tuning, Hybrid Simulation Rig, Slender Microsatellite Launch Vehicles

Abstract

The need to decentralize microsatellite launch missions, as a result of rapid expansion of space technology has led to the emergence of slender (microsatellite) launch vehicles (SLV). However, navigation cost, in terms of onboard equipment, state estimation and control algorithms presently prohibits microsatellite launch vehicle missions. Thus, to realize mission affordability of slender launch vehicles, this work developed a Hardware In the Loop rig for optimizing hardware cost and maximizing the performance of implemented state estimation and control algorithms on slender launch vehicles navigation systems. Apriori, the National Agency for Space Research and Development Agency scaled the characteristics of NASA's Ares I Rocket launcher to obtain a miniaturized slender launch vehicle. This prototype is interfaced with MATLAB’s SIMULIINK environment to build an experimental rig for autopilot simulation to realize affordable navigation systems on slender launch vehicles. In the feedback control loop of the simulated autopilot system, the proportional, integral and derivative control gains of the simulated autopilot were initialized by classical control laws; this seamlessly transits to a smart fuzzy logic based gain selection algorithm within the rise time of the system’s response. This smartly filters nonlinear structural vibration noise from the state estimation system, as well as proactively selects the proportional, integral and derivative gains of the autopilot system. Inference from the flight data sheet established rigorous coupling between structural and control hardware dynamics. Thus, to demonstrate structural interference cancellation, and improve on the auto-tuning ability of the semi- intelligent pitch attitude control algorithm; a pre-planned rocket trajectory of 700m altitude and 15 seconds flight duration was modelled for adaptive tracking such that the desired control objectives are realised. In profile, the realized trajectory indicated that dynamic interaction between rocket structure and control hardware was effectively attenuated. In-flight, the recorded maximum deviation from the referenced trajectory is 0.16% (overshoot). This transient error is mostly due to unmodelled wind induced structural excitation.

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