Fuzzy Control System Design for an Aircraft Attitude in Longitudinal Motion

Abstract

The development of performance longitudinal autopilot is very important to maintain aircraft in the longitudinal stability mode during flight operation. The longitudinal control consists of four control loops which pitch angle attitude, altitude, vertical speed and forward speed. This research exhibits comparative assessment based on the time response specification between using fuzzy logic control and conventional Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller for pitch angle attitude control using MATLAB/SIMULINK toolbox. The performances of pitch angle control systems are investigated and analyzed based on common criteria of step response in order to identify which control strategy delivers better performance with respect to the desired pitch angle. The simulations results demonstrate that the using fuzzy logic control give better performance than conventional PID controller to achieve the design requirements.