Control allocation optimization for an over-actuated tandem tiltwing eVTOL aircraft considering aerodynamic interactions

Abstract

This paper describes control allocation strategies for a tandem tiltwing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft with distributed propulsion. The control mappings are constructed as local surrogate models that relate the control effectors to the aircraft's aeropropulsive forces and moments across the full flight envelope, including interactional aerodynamics effects. Control allocation optimization problems are formulated based on force and moment commands for specific flight conditions. Specifically, a nonlinear programming formulation based on nonlinear control mapping is proposed for control allocation optimization, and the problem is solved using a sparse nonlinear optimizer. The solutions obtained from different formulations such as the minimization of force and moment residuals and the minimization of control effort are investigated. Furthermore, these solutions are compared with the solutions obtained using linear control mapping-based formulations. Results presented for the cases of forward flight, low speed flight & hover, and flight in the transition corridor suggest that considering aerodynamic interactions while formulating and solving the control allocation problem is necessary for higher levels of accuracy compared to linear approaches. One-propeller-out scenarios and moment and force generation cases are also investigated. Finally, control allocation for steady and accelerated operation in the transition corridor is discussed. The contribution of the methods and results in the paper is a nonlinear control allocation methodology for the entire flight envelope of an over-actuated tandem tiltwing eVTOL aircraft.