Design of predictive controller for hypersonic vehicles based on disturbance observer

A new kind of attitude controller based on the predictive control method is proposed for hypersonic vehicles with strong coupling characteristics and model uncertainties. Firstly, a novel predictive controller is presented according to the predictive control model combined with the dynamic model of a hypersonic vehicle and an expected reference model, a disturbance observer is designed to compensate timely for the controller and to satisfy the rolling optimization requirements. Secondly, the whole control system stability is strictly proven by Lyapunov stability theory based on the error between the observed value and the real value, and the control accuracy is determined by the predictive length. Finally, the performances and robustness are assessed through a hypersonic vehicle simulation analysis. Several simulation results all show that the predictive controller can guarantee stability and high control precision under the conditions of model parameter nominal and large-scale model parameter perturbation, and the disturbance observer can follow the tracks of the disturbance rapidly.