• pressure controller
• non linear analysis
• inversion model
• flight simulator
• ground path control
• discrete-time
• differential brakes
• anti skid
• aeronautical
• sensors

This thesis is part of the research activities carried out at Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile ed Industriale for the development of the landing/roll-out simulator of a light jet aircraft. The main objective of the simulator is to assess the feasibility of implementing automatic control functions for the directional control of the aircraft through the combined use of standard commands(steering and rudder) with hydraulic differential brakes. The present work is focused on the design and verification of the aircraft simulator control laws, with particular reference to pressure control, heading control and ground path control. Aiming to provide feasibility indications, the simulator includes the 6-DOFs model of the aircraft and detailed models of hydraulic brakes, shock-absorbers tyre loads(via Dugoff formulae), and digital signal processing controllers. To face the complexity of the plant and the nested architecture of the three closed loop controls, a progressive approach to the system verification, is used, with simulation studies performed on models characterised by different levels of sophistication. Once defined the control laws, the system robustness is finally addressed by characterizing the performances at different runway conditions and with failures to the nose wheel steering.