Control Engineering in Aeronautic

Abstract

Several characteristics of the control system can be linked with the human behaviour. The Control System can think to an extent that, they can replace some human operation. It is a concept or principle that seems to be fundamental in nature and not necessarily peculiar to engineering. The field of aeronautics is wide ranging and multi-disciplinary, covering a large variety of products, disciplines and domain. These are combined to enable the aerospace & defence industry to produce exciting and technologically efficient products. Flight Control Systems are an essential element of all modern aerospace vehicles, for instance:

• Civil aircraft use a flight management system to track optimal flight trajectories,
• Autopilots are used to follow a set course or to land the aircraft,
• Gust and manoeuvre load alleviation systems are often employed,
• Military aircraft are often designed for enhanced manoeuvrability with carefree handling in flight regimes that have statically unstable open loop behaviour,
• Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs) are able to follow a pre-defined task without any human intervention,
• Guidance and control strategies are required by rockets that are able to deal with parameters varying rapidly with time x whilst ensuring that rocket’s orientation follows the desired flight path curvature, and

Spacecraft need to be guided accurately on missions that may last many years whilst also maintaining the desired attitude throughout.