Off-Line Comparison of Classical and Robust Flight Simulator Motion Control

This paper presents a comparison of the motion produced by a flight simulator using conventional washout filters and a novel robust controller. Both approaches are implemented in an off-line MATLAB /Simulink simulation that includes a model of an electrically driven synergistic motion-base flight simulator. To evaluate the performance of these motion-base control approaches, the authors simulated the Boeing 747 airliner using a nonlinear model of its dynamics. The motion experienced by the aircraft pilot is compared to that experienced by the simulator pilot, using both control approaches. Additionally, the model used for the simulator motion base is adjusted to represent two different scenarios: a high- and a low-fidelity motion system. It is shown that the two control approaches reasonably track the motion of the aircraft, within the limitations of the motion base, but that the robust controller is able to compensate for variations in the fidelity of the motion system.