Nonlinear control of aircraft on ground runway keeping

Abstract

This paper addresses the aircraft on ground runway keeping problem. A nonlinear model of the aircraft on ground is derived which explicitly combines the kinematic constraints and dynamic model. The proposed model considers the kinematic constraints of nose wheel cornering and the tyre side-slip effects, as well as the aerodynamic forces and moments. We focus on the task that the aircraft is required to follow the runway and avoid runway departure by nose wheel steering. Nonlinear control is designed to keep the aircraft approach the runway centerline while lateral deviation is detected. Simulation results clearly demonstrate the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed method.