Aircraft control for flight in an uncertain environment: Takeoff in windshear

The design of the control of an aircraft encountering windshear after takeoff is treated as a problem of stabilizing the climb rate about a desired value of the climb rate. The resulting controller is a feedback one utilizing only climb rate information. Its robustness vis-a-vis windshear structure and intensity is illustrated via simulations employing four different windshear models.Notations ARL aircraft reference line - D drag force, lb - g gravitational force per unit mass=const, ft sec^–2 - h vertical coordinate of aircraft center of mass (altitude), ft - L lift force, lb - m aircraft mass=const, lb ft^–1 sec² - O mass center of aircraft - S reference surface, ft² - t time, sec - T thrust force, lb - V aircraft speed relative to wind-based reference frame, ft sec^–1 - V _e aircraft speed relative to ground, ft sec^–1 - W _x horizontal component of wind velocity, ft sec^–1 - W _h vertical component of wind velocity, ft sec^–1 - x horizontal coordinate of aircraft center of mass, ft - relative angle of attack, rad - relative path inclination, rad - _e path inclination, rad - thrust inclination, rad - air density=const, lb ft² sec² Dot denotes time derivative.