Model reference adaptive control for a flexible launch vehicle

Abstract

In the present paper, an adaptive control approach for a flexible launch vehicle is proposed. This approach makes use of gain scheduling and model reference adaptive filter methods to control the flexible behaviours of the launch vehicle structure, which can lead to control system stability degradation. Applying this adaptive controller to an eight-degrees-of-freedom flexible launch vehicle, gives stable and desired responses. Because the designed adaptive controller adjusts only one single parameter and is designed based on the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) rule, it is simpler and faster than the other approaches. Therefore, this newly designed algorithm is less central processing unit-intensive, which makes it easier to implement in real-time applications.