Optimized reconfigurable control design for aircraft using Genetic Algorithm

In this study, we propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based modular reconfigurable control scheme for an over-actuated non-linear aircraft model. The reconfiguration of the flight controller is achieved for the case of control surface faults/failures using a separate control distribution algorithm without modifying the base-line control law. The baseline Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) is optimized using GA to produce desired moment commands. Then, a GA based weighted pseudo-inverse method is used for effective distribution of commands between redundant control surfaces. Control surface effectiveness levels are used to redistribute the control commands to healthy actuators when a fault or failure occurs. Simulation results using ADMIRE aircraft model show the satisfactory performance in accommodating different faults, which confirm the efficiency of optimized reconfigurable design strategy.