Hierarchical Dynamic Control Allocation for Over-actuated Aircraft: Methodology and Flight Tests on a Scaled-Down Model

This work presents the development and testing of a methodology for dynamic control allocation of generic over-actuated aircraft equipped with a set of primary and secondary control effectors. The proposed approach enforces a hierarchy in the allocation strategy that aims at favoring the primary effectors whenever possible and distributes the control signal over the redundant effectors in the presence of control limitations, faults, and loss of effectiveness, without the need to resort to fault detection schemes. The suitability of the proposed solution and its implementability on embedded flight controllers is verified on actual flight tests conducted on a scaled-down model equipped with a set of secondary effectors.