Robust wind shear stochastic controller-estimator

This study analyzes airplane wind shear flight-path control and state estimation in the presence of uncertainties in microburst size and strength. Variations in wind shear shaping filter parameters are computed using a theoretical wind model that agrees in spectral characteristics with actual microbursts. Stratonovich interpretation of stochastic integrals is used to derive a coupled linear quadratic controller-estimator system. Verification of design robustness is carried out using both nonlinear and linearized Boeing 727 longitudinal approach and takeoff flight simulations. Linear simulation results for the coupled system are compared with those for a linear quadratic Gaussian reference design to show improvement in performance. Monte Carlo simulation with nonlinear apprach and takeoff models demonstrates robustness of the coupled controller-estimator system with respect to variations in microburst size and strength.