Controller Design for Hypersonic Vehicles Accommodating Nonlinear State and Control Constraints

A controller formulation suitable for trajectory tracking of a hypersonic vehicle is derived in this paper . The formulation explicitly accommodates nonlinear constraints involving both state and control variables. The controller is demonstrated in closed loop simulations based on an existing longitudinal hypersonic vehicle model. The controller not only successfully tracks the reference trajectories but is also shown to satisfy inequality constraints on variables such as combustor temperature, combustor pressure, engine mass flow rate, and vehicle tip displacement.