Optimal PID Controller Tuning for Multivariable Aircraft Longitudinal Autopilot Based on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

Subject Areas : Renewable energy

Mostafa Lotfi Forushani ¹ , Bahram Karimi ² , Ghazanfar Shahgholian ³

1 - MSc/Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University
2 - Assistant Professor/Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University
3 - Assistant Professor/Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University

Received: 2010-11-20 Accepted : 2011-09-20 Published : 2012-06-01

Keywords: Swarm intelligence, particle swarm optimization algorithms, PID controllers, MIMO systems, longitudinal autopilot, aircraft equation of motion,

Abstract :

This paper presents an optimized controller around the longitudinal axis of multivariable system in one of the aircraft flight conditions. The controller is introduced in order to control the angle of attack from the pitch attitude angle independently (that is required for designing a set of direct force-modes for the longitudinal axis) based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The autopilot system for military or civil aircraft is an essential component and in this paper, the autopilot system via 6 degree of freedom model for the control and guidance of aircraft in which the autopilot design will perform based on defining the longitudinal and the lateral-directional axes are supposed. The effectiveness of the proposed controller is illustrated by considering HIMAT aircraft. The simulation results verify merits of the proposed controller.