A study on input design method for nonlinear non-minimum phase systems

This paper proposes a simple and direct input calculation method for the precise output tracking control of nonlinear non-minimum phase systems. This approach is based on receding horizon control, though it does not require any iterative calculation. The control inputs that eliminate the error between the desired trajectory and the estimated output trajectory are generated by using the preview command at each sampling time. In order to prevent control input divergence, an internal state condition at a finite preview time ahead is added to the command. Performance of this approach is demonstrated in some numerical simulations by using a nonlinear F-16 flight simulation model. The result shows that our proposed method can achieve an almost perfect tracking performance. Although the real-time use of the control may be difficult due to the considerable amount of control computation required, this method can also be utilized to assess the feasibility of guidance commands.