Introduction to Aircraft Control System

By Prof. Dipak Kumar Giri | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 767 | Exam registration: 14

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The Objective of this course is to apply knowledge of mathematics and engineering to analyze and design a control system to meet desired specifications. Students will learn to analytically determine a control system’s functionality and select appropriate tests to demonstrate system’s performance and finally design a control system to meet a set of requirements. Develop an understanding of the elements of classical and modern control theory as applied to the control of aircraft.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG and PG

PREREQUISITES: Mathematics for Engineers, Flight Dynamics, Aircraft Performance.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: HAL, NAL, ISRO, DRDO and Private Industries.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Aerospace Engineering Flight Mechanics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	14 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	27 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Why control system in Aircraft? Automatic control to Aerospace Systems. Elements of Closed-loop Control System. Linear Time Invariant System. Equilibrium Points, Static and Dynamic Stability.

Week 2: Stability Analysis with Respect to Equilibrium points, Example on Nonlinear System, Linearization method, State-space model, Laplace transform and Transfer Function, Examples.

Week 3: Linearization to Aircraft’s Rotational Motion. Linear state model of aircraft attitude motion. Transfer function of aircraft attitude motion with respect to reference attitude, disturbance, and noise. Effect of controller in closed-loop transfer function. Typical control laws- Proportional, Proportional plus Derivative, and Proportional-Integral- Derivative.

Week 4: Transient and steady state Response, Standard 2nd order System, Effect of Damping Ratio on system’s closed-loop poles. Time Domain Specifications for modifying the transient response. Steady State Specifications.

Week 5: Effect of Disturbance on steady state performance, Examples. Stability Analysis for Autopilot Design: Routh Stability Criteria, Marginal Stability, Root Locus.

Week 6: Rules to find the stability margins for autopilot design using Root Locus, Examples, Effect of Addition of Poles and Zeros to the autopilot system, Compensators.

Week 7: Gain Tuning method, PID control for the design of autopilot using Root Locus, Examples, Review on Aircraft Equation of motion, Aircraft Reference Model, Small perturbation to Aircraft Equation.

Week 8: Linearized State-Space Model of Longitudinal and Lateral / Directional Equations of Motion for the Aircraft Autopilot Design. Longitudinal motion approximation. Short period approximation.
Week 9:Linearized State-Space Model of Longitudinal and Lateral / Directional Equations of Motion for the Aircraft Autopilot Design. Longitudinal motion approximation. Short period approximation.(Cont.,)

Week 10: Spiral mode, Roll mode and Dutch Roll approximations. Examples for longitudinal and lateral approximations for the Aircraft Autopilot Design.

Week 11: Lateral flying qualities. Aircraft Transfer Function in terms of Phugoid and Short Period Dynamics for Autopilot Design.
Week 12: Lateral flying qualities. Aircraft Transfer Function in terms of Phugoid and Short Period Dynamics for Autopilot Design.(Cont.,)

Books and references

1. Tewari, A, Modern Control Design with MATLAB and Simulink, John Wiley & Sons,Chichester, 2002.
2. Franklin, G. F., Powell, J. D., and Naeini, A. E., Feedback Control of Dynamical Systems, Prentice Hall, 6th Edition, 2009.
3. Nelson, R., Flight Stability and Automatic Control, McGraw Hill Education, 2nd Edition, 2007.
4. Ruiter, A. H, Damaren, C., and Forbes, J. R., Spacecraft Dynamics and Control: An Introduction, Wiley, 1st Edition, 2013.
5. Tewari, A., Automatic Control of Atmospheric and Space Flight Vehicles, Birkkhauser, 1st Edition, 2011.
6. Yeedavalli, K. R., “Flight Dynamics and Control of Aero and Space Vehicles”, Willey, 1st Edition, 2020.

Instructor bio

Prof. Dipak Kumar Giri

IIT Kanpur

Prof. Dipak Kumar Giri is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering since November 2020. Previously, Prof. Giri was a DST INSPIRE Faculty at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur (2018-2020). Before this, he was a postdoctoral research associate (2017-2018) at Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and worked in the field of space systems. Before this, he was a postdoc fellow (2016-2017) at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea, and worked on nonlinear control of quadrotor UAVs. Prior to this, he was a research engineer at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kharagpur. He has obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kharagpur on satellite attitude dynamics and control. Before joining PhD, he was in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University, Ankara through Erasmus Mundus Fellowship by the European Union (2009-2011). Prof. Giri’s current research work involves linear and nonlinear control algorithms for aerospace dynamical systems- spacecraft attitude control, orbit control for space flights, and on-orbit servicing for future aerospace systems and aircraft control systems.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 27, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

SWAYAM Helpline / Support