In this book recent results of the GARTEUR (Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology in Europe) Action Group FM (AG11) are presented. The book focuses on analysis techniques for the flight clearance of highly augmented aircrafts, including contributions of 20 European aeronautical organisations such as National Research Centers, Aerospace Industries and Universities. The tasks and requirements of the Industrial Clearance Process for Flight Control Laws are presented as well as classical and particularly new analysis methods. The different methods are evaluated and compared and their potential application to Civil Aircraft is demonstrated.

In this book recent results of the GARTEUR (Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology in Europe) Action Group FM (AG11) are presented. The book focuses on analysis techniques for the flight clearance of highly augmented aircrafts, including contributions of 20 European aeronautical organisations such as National Research Centers, Aerospace Industries and Universities. The tasks and requirements of the Industrial Clearance Process for Flight Control Laws are presented as well as classical and particularly new analysis methods. The different methods are evaluated and compared and their potential application to Civil Aircraft is demonstrated.

This book summarizes the main achievements of the EC funded 6th Framework Program project COFCLUO – Clearance of Flight Control Laws Using Optimization. This project successfully contributed to the achievement of a top-level objective to meet society’s needs for a more efficient, safer and environmentally friendly air transport by providing new techniques and tools for the clearance of flight control laws. This is an important part of the certification and qualification process of an aircraft – a costly and time-consuming process for the aeronautical industry. The overall objective of the COFCLUO project was to develop and apply optimization techniques to the clearance of flight control laws in order to improve efficiency and reliability. In the book, the new techniques are explained and benchmarked against traditional techniques currently used by the industry. The new techniques build on mathematical criteria derived from the certification and qualification requirements together with suitable models of the aircraft. The development of these criteria and models are also presented in the book. Because of wider applicability, the optimization-based clearance of flight control laws will open up the possibility to design innovative aircraft that today are out of the scope using classical clearance tools. Optimization-based clearance will not only increase safety but it will also simplify the whole certification and qualification process, thus significantly reduce cost. The achieved speedup will also support rapid modeling and prototyping and reduce “time to market”.

In this book recent results of the GARTEUR (Group for Aeronautical Research and Technology in Europe) Action Group FM (AG11) are presented. The book focuses on analysis techniques for the flight clearance of highly augmented aircrafts, including contributions of 20 European aeronautical organisations such as National Research Centers, Aerospace Industries and Universities. The tasks and requirements of the Industrial Clearance Process for Flight Control Laws are presented as well as classical and particularly new analysis methods. The different methods are evaluated and compared and their potential application to Civil Aircraft is demonstrated.

This is the first book to focus on the use of nonlinear analysis and synthesis techniques for aircraft control. It is also the first book to address in detail closed-loop control problems for aircraft "on-ground" – i.e. speed and directional control of aircraft before take-off and after touch down. The book will be of interest to engineers, researchers, and students in control engineering, and especially aircraft control.

The two first CEAS (Council of European Aerospace Societies) Specialist Conferences on Guidance, Navigation and Control (CEAS EuroGNC) were held in Munich, Germany in 2011 and in Delft, The Netherlands in 2013. ONERA The French Aerospace Lab, ISAE (Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace) and ENAC (Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile) accepted the challenge of jointly organizing the 3rd edition. The conference aims at promoting new advances in aerospace GNC theory and technologies for enhancing safety, survivability, efficiency, performance, autonomy and intelligence of aerospace systems. It represents a unique forum for communication and information exchange between specialists in the fields of GNC systems design and operation, including air traffic management. This book contains the forty best papers and gives an interesting snapshot of the latest advances over the following topics: l Control theory, analysis, and design l Novel navigation, estimation, and tracking methods l Aircraft, spacecraft, missile and UAV guidance, navigation, and control l Flight testing and experimental results l Intelligent control in aerospace applications l Aerospace robotics and unmanned/autonomous systems l Sensor systems for guidance, navigation and control l Guidance, navigation, and control concepts in air traffic control systems For the 3rd CEAS Specialist Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control the International Program Committee conducted a formal review process. Each paper was reviewed in compliance with standard journal practice by at least two independent and anonymous reviewers. The papers published in this book were selected from the conference proceedings based on the results and recommendations from the reviewers.

Over the last few decades, both the aeronautics and space disciplines have greatly influenced advances in controls, sensors, data fusion and navigation. Many of those achievements that made the word “aerospace” synonymous with “high–tech” were enabled by innovations in guidance, navigation and control. Europe has seen a strong trans-national consolidation process in aerospace over the last few decades. Most of the visible products, like commercial aircraft, fighters, helicopters, satellites, launchers or missiles, are not made by a single country – they are the fruits of cooperation. No European country by itself hosts a specialized guidance, navigation and controls community large enough to cover the whole spectrum of disciplines. However, on a European scale, mutual exchange of ideas, concepts and solutions is enriching for all. The 1st CEAS Specialist Conference on Guidance, Navigation and Control is an attempt to bring this community together. This book is a selection of papers presented at the conference. All submitted papers have gone through a formal review process in compliance with good journal practices. The best papers have been recommended by the reviewers to be published in this book.