3 Stability of Steady Glides
In a practical implementation we would typically
like to specify a desired speed Vd and a desired glide
path angle ξd for the glider. We can then calculate the
corresponding equilibrium values of (rP1, rP3) and mb
that would achieve this motion. We note that there is
a one-parameter set of shifting mass locations for any
specified glider motion [8]. We can choose among this
p. 2
a x
q e1
V
i j
k
M
DL
L
D
Figure 2.2: Hydrodynamic forces and moment on the
glider
continuum of solutions by requiring rP3, which influences the “bottom heaviness” of the vehicle and consequently the stability, to be below a given stability
threshold.
Leonard and Graver [8] calculated the equilibrium
glide paths and studied linear stability for the model
with parameters corresponding to ROGUE. For all of
the glide paths investigated (four representative glide
paths are presented in [8]), the linear system has a slow
unstable mode but is controllable. In fact, it is found
that the linearization is controllable with {u1, u4} or
{u3, u4} i.e., it is possible to control the glider by moving the sliding mass with just one degree of freedom.
The controllability property implies that it is possible to stabilize the motion of the glider to a desired
equilibrium glide path using linear control. As it turns
out, the region of attraction for such a linear controller
is not as large as we would like. For instance, it does
not appear to be possible to switch between upward and
downward glides in a sawtooth glide path using a pure
linear feedback law. The limited region of attraction is
likely due to the instability of the uncontrolled steady
glide.
We found that the instability of the glider with its
shifting mass allowed to move freely is due to the response of the shifting mass to the motion of the glider
body (recall that the ellipsoidal body is assumed to have
uniformly distributed mass). This instability is similar
to the fuel slosh instability in space vehicles.
In the next section we formulate a nonlinear feedback control law (and coordinate transformation) that
provides input-output linearization and stabilizes the
gliding motion. This feedback law is equivalent to the
realization of forces that constrain the shifting mass to
move along a suspension system inside the vehicle.