Fault Tolerant Control for the Flying-V Using Adaptive Incremental Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion

The Flying-V emerges as a unique flying wing type commercial aircraft design, distinguished by its V-shaped configuration. For such unconventional airframes, flight control systems are vital for ensuring safety and enhancing flight performance. Current Flying-V control systems primarily use incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion (INDI), a sensor-based feedback linearization method requiring an onboard control effectiveness model. Although INDI handles model uncertainties, significant mismatches between actual and onboard models caused by damages or faults degrade performance and compromise flight safety. This study proposes an adaptive strategy for incremental nonlinear dynamic inversion, employing an online two-step method to estimate changes in the aircraft’s control effectiveness. Estimates are used to update the onboard control effectiveness model to minimize the mismatch between the actual and onboard representation of control effectiveness.