Observer Backstepping Design for Flight Control

This paper presents observer backstepping as a new nonlinear flight control design framework. Flight control laws for general-purpose maneuvering in the presence of nonlinear lift and side forces are designed. The controlled variables are the angle of attack, the sideslip angle, and the roll rate. The stability has been proved using Lyapunov stability criteria. Control laws were evaluated using realistic aircraft simulation models, with highly encouraging results.