Proceedings of 2014 IEEE Chinese Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference

August 8-10, 2014

Yantai, China

Trajectory Tracking for RLV Terminal Area Energy Management

Phase based on LQR
Bowen Zheng, Zixuan Liang, Qingdong Li, Zhang Ren
Abstract A new longitudinal trajectory tracking law for the
Terminal Area Energy Management (TAEM) phase of the
Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is presented in this paper. The
conventional PID method controls the height and the velocity by
the angle of attack and the angle of airbrake respectively, and
no coupling is considered. To improve the tracking precision,
the new tracking law is designed based on the linear quadratic
regulator (LQR) theory where the coupling is taken into account.
Finally, the trajectory tracking law based on the LQR is
simulated and compared with the conventional method.
Simulation results indicate the effectiveness and the robustness
of the new tracking law.

I. INTRODUCTION
Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) is a type of reusable
aircrafts that can make a round trip between the earth and the
outer space [1]. It is forecasted that RLV is the trend of space
technology in the following years [2]. The reentry flight of
RLV is consisted of three phases: initial entry phase, Terminal
Area Energy Management (TAEM) phase and landing phase
[3]. The TAEM phase starts from the point with a height of
30km and a velocity of 2.5Ma, and ends at the point with a
height of 4km and a velocity of 0.5Ma. In the TAEM phase,
the task is to dissipate surplus energy and adjust the heading
direction towards the runway, so the RLV will land safely with
a suitable velocity and height [4], which makes this phase a
vital phase of the reentry flight. However, a large variation
range of dynamic pressure and velocity, significant changes of
aerodynamic characteristics along with the uncertain states of
the RLV after initial entry phase also make the task of the
TAEM phase a highly difficult work.
The general method of energy management in the TAEM
phase is to divide the motion into the longitudinal motion and
the lateral motion, then design the standard trajectory and
corresponding reference guidance commands. In actual flight,
guidance commands are adjusted to track the standard
trajectory. As for longitudinal motion, two variables are to be
controlled: height and velocity. Assuming these two variables
are independent of each other, angle of attack is used to
control the height and angle of airbrake is used to control the
velocity of the RLV respectively. But actually, height and
velocity are coupled and the separate design causes
inaccuracies in the process of tracing the reference trajectory.
This paper aimes to improve the accuracy of height and
velocity together by means of trajectory tracking law based on
the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) theory. Firstly, the state
* Research supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of
China (No.91116002, No.91216034, No.61333011 and No.61121003).
B. Zheng, Z, Liang, Q. Li, Z. Ren are with the Science and Technology on
Aircraft Control Laboratory, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191 China
(phone:
86-010-82314573-11;
fax:
86-010-82313265;
e-mail:
changfeng@asee.buaa.edu.cn; muziqingdong@126.com)
978-1-4799-4699-0/14/$31.002014 IEEE

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equation of RLV in TAEM phase is to be calculated out. For

acquiring feedback control, performance index is also
computed. Finally the feedback matrix is obtained by
resolving the Riccati equation. Input of the system is the
feedback of the state.
II. TRAJECTORY TRACKING METHODS
Assuming that the earth is a flat surface and the RLV is a
particle, the motion equation of RLV is as follows [5]:

mv = - D - mg sin
mv = L cos mg cos

L sin
(1)

 =

mv cos

h = v sin
where m and v represents the mass and velocity of RLV; L and
D represents the lift force and resistance force acting on RLV;
, ,  represents flight-path angle, velocity azimuth angle
and bank angle of RLV respectively. Assuming that bank
angle equals to zero, we can obtain the simplified motion
equation of RLV is as follows:
mv = D mg sin

mv = L mg cos

h = v sin

(2)

In order that RLV can land safely with a suitable velocity

and height onto the runway, the standard trajectory and
corresponding reference guidance commands are calculated in
advance. In flight procedure, deviations of actual height and
velocity from reference values are obtained, and then angle of
attack and angle of airbrake are adjusted from reference values
to eliminate these deviations [6]. In a common method, angle
of attack is adjusted according to the deviation of height while
angle of airbrake is adjusted according to the deviation of
velocity. The following equations use PID methods as an
example[6]:
= k1* h + k 2 *

d h
+ k 3* h * dt
dt

(3)

d v
+ k 6 * v * dt
dt

(4)

b = k 4 * v + k 5*

where  represents the difference between actual angle of

attack and reference value; b represents the difference
between actual angle of airbrake and reference value; h
represents the deviation of height; v represents the deviation

of velocity; k1, k2, k3 represent proportional gain, derivative

gain, integral gain of deviation of height; k4, k5, k6 represent
proportional gain, derivative gain, integral gain of deviation of
velocity. Airbrake cannot be used when the velocity is too
high to avoid damage to it. In most cases, airbrake is open
when Mach number is under 0.8, so b equals to zero when
velocity is higher than 0.8Ma.
III. TRAJECTORY TRACKING LAW BASED ON LQR
As coupling exists in the height and velocity tracking laws
in (8) and (9), the LQR method is used when both the angle of
attack and the angle of airbrake are adjusted.
Before using trajectory tracking law based on LQR, the
state equation of RLV in TAEM phase has to be calculated
out. For longitudinal motion, height, velocity, flight-path
angle are selected as state variables, angle of attack, angle of
airbrake are selected as input variables and height, velocity are
selected as output variables. Using means of small
perturbation linearization, the state equation of RLV in TAEM
phase are obtained as follows [7]:

h
h

v = A v + B b




where

A = Dh g sin
L g cos
h
v

sin
Dv
vLv L + g cos
v2

0
D
B=
L

v cos

g cos
g sin

0
D b
L b

Dh =

1 T
( x Qx + U T RU )dt
2 0

(10)

where X=[ h v ]T, U=[  b]T, Q and R are

weighting matrix of deviation of state variables and input
variables. According to Brysons rule they are constant
symmetric positive definite matrix, defining as follows:
1

2
hmax

Q= 0

max 2

1
vmax 2

1
2
max
R=

bmax 2

(11)

(12)

where hmax, vmax and max represent maximum allowable

(5) deviations of height, velocity and flight-path angle;  and
max
bmax represent maximum rate of change of angle of attack
and angle of airbrake. In order to obtain the minimum value of
the performance index J defined in (10), theory of optimal
linear regulator is used which provides the feedback matrix by
resolving the Riccati equation:

(6)

KA AT K + KBR 1 BT K Q = 0

(13)

Form of feedback control is obtained as follows:

(7)

h, v,  represent errors of height, velocity, flight-path

angle of RLV; , b represent increments of angle of attack,
angle of airbrake on reference values; g represents
gravitational acceleration; Lh, Lv, L, Lb represent derivatives
of lift force on height, velocity, angle of attack, angle of
airbrake and given by (8); Dh, Dv, D, Db represent derivatives
of resistance force on height, velocity, angle of attack, angle of
airbrake and given by (9); v represents the velocity of RLV; L
and D represents the lift force and resistance force acting on
RLV.
Lh =

J=

= K v
b

(14)

where K represents the state feedback matrix of the system.

The complete guidance commands are the sum of increments
and reference values of angle of attack and angle of airbrake:

ref
b = b
ref

(15)

where  and b represent complete guidance commands, ref

and bref represent reference commands for angle of attack and
angle of airbrake.
IV. SIMULATION

L
L
L
L
, Lv =
, L =
, L b =
h
v

To test the proposed trajectory tracking law, a RLV model

(8) is used in simulations. The initial and terminal conditions for
the TAEM phase of a RLV are as follows:

D
D
D
D
, Dv =
, D =
, D b =
h
v

(9)

Considering lowering the values of state variables and the

input, performance index of the system is defined as [8]:
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Initial velocity: 760m/s

Initial height: 30000m
Initial flight-path angle: -5

Remaining range: 100.66km

25
angle of attack
angle of airbrake

Terminal height: 4000m

Terminal velocity: 157m/s

A. Abbreviations and Acronyms

Assuming that there is no dispersion, the state variables
height and velocity and the input variables angle of attack and
airbrake are shown in Figs. 1-3:
30

Height(km)

reference trajectory
actual trajectory

15

10

25

20

-5

20

40

60
Range(km)

80

100

120

15

Figure 3. Angle of attack and airbrake without dispersion

10

Figs.1 and 2 display the reference height and velocity

designed in longitudinal plan and actual height and velocity
generated in actual flight. The two figures illustrate that the
accuracy is sufficient when there is no dispersion. In Fig2, the
velocity is dispelled late in flight because the airbrake is open
only when the velocity is below 0.8Ma.

0
0

20

40

60
Range(km)

80

100

120

B. Dispersed cases
When dispersions are considered in the TAEM phase,
effects of PID method and trajectory tracking law based on
LQR are compared. To display this issue clearly, the
dispersion is sorted into two categories: initial condition
dispersion and aerodynamic parameter dispersion. Adding
fluctuation on each item and the results of the two methods are
calculated.

Figure 1. Reference and actual height trajectories without dispersion

800
reference trajectory
actual trajectory
700

600
Velocity(m/s)

Angle of attack or airbrake(deg)

20

Initial condition dispersion includes initial error of height,

velocity and flight-path angle. Aerodynamic parameter
dispersion includes error of atmosphere density, lift
coefficient and drag coefficient.

500

400

TABLE I.

300

200

100
0

20

40

60
Range(km)

80

100

120

Figure 2. Reference and actual velocity trajectories without dispersion

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CASE DISPERSION VALUE

Case

Dispersion items

Dispersion value

Initial height

+3km

Initial height

-3km

Initial velocity

+120m/s

Initial velocity

-120m/s

Initial flight-path angle

+5e

Initial flight-path angle

-5e

Range

+20%

Range

-20%

500

TABLE II.

CASE DISPERSION VALUE

Dispersion items

Dispersion value

300

Atmosphere density

+30%

200

Atmosphere density

-30%

100

Lift coefficient

+20%

Lift coefficient

-20%

Drag coefficient

+20%

-200

Drag coefficient

-20%

-300

Mass

+5%

-400

Mass

-5%

-500
-20

Height(m)

Case

0
-100

-15

-10

-5
0
5
Velocity(m/s)

10

15

20

Figure 6. Height and velocity error of PID and LQR method

35

Figs.4-6 illustrate that the accuracy of height and velocity

under dispersion of initial condition are sufficient with means
of trajectory tracking law based on LQR. The accuracy is
promoted compared with PID method which does not consider
the copula between height and velocity.

30

25

Height(km)

LQR method
PID method

400

20

15

V. CONCLUSION
10

The theoretical derivation and simulation results above

illustrate that the copula between height and velocity shall be
taken into consideration to improve the accuracy of
longitudinal trajectory tracking. Means of trajectory tracking
law based on LQR is authenticated to be an effective method
to fufill this target, especially under dispersion of
aerodynamic parameter.

0
0

20

40

60
Range(km)

80

100

120

Figure 4. Height trajectories for LQR in dispersed cases

REFERENCES
900

[1] Y. H. Tang, M. L. Yu,Y. Yang, Z. B. Xie, Second generation of

800
700

Velocity(m/s)

[2]
600

[3]

500
400

[4]

300

[5]

200
100
0

20

40

60
Range(km)

80

100

[6]

120

[7]

Figure 5. Velctity trajectories for LQR in dispersed cases

2523

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