Pilot-Induced Oscillation Analysis with Actuator Rate Limiting and Feedback Control Loop

Fully-developed pilot-induced oscillation (PIO) is an important issue to be solved in the development of modern fly-by-wire flight control systems. A new method is presented to analyze the limit cycle phenomenon of the PIO, including the effects of actuator rate limiting and feedback control. By using describing function method, the frequency and the amplitude of the PIO limit cycle are obtained analytically. It is shown that the predictions obtained with this present method closely match results of the simulation.