Model-Agnostic Maneuver Control Software
Simulation of various maneuvers is a routine task performed by several groups (e.g., _flight mechanics, controls, system engineering, etc) at airplane manufacturers. It is indispensable for pre certification checks and for exploring the capability of the airplane. These maneuvers span wide range from pull-up, to vertical loop, to barrel roll, to cross-wind landing, etc. So, a typical recurrent task for the engineers of these groups is to find the necessary control inputs that can execute a specific maneuver. This task is quite challenging and typically done by trial-and-error, consuming a considerable time from engineers. There are several techniques to simulate these maneuvers; perhaps, inverse simulation has been one of the standard techniques in this regard. However, it is highly model-dependent and lacks generality. There are novel techniques that are recently proposed to perform such a task. In this study, we review two of these methods: Model-Predictive- Control (MPC), and Udwadia-Kalaba Formulation for trajectory tracking, describing their unsuitability for the stated goal. We then present a third method based on optimal control formulation, which is adopted in the developed Maneuver Control Software (MCS). The objective of this study is to: Develop an algorithm that can perform given maneuvers for a generic airplane.