FDC 1.

4 beta 3 Revision date: September 15, 2005

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FDC 1.4 --- A Simulink Toolbox for Flight

Dynamics and Control Analysis
M.O. Rauw
(rauw@dutchroll.com)

Haarlem, The Netherlands, September 2005

ABSTRACT
========
The Flight Dynamics and Control (FDC) toolbox is a graphical software
environment for the design and analysis of aircraft dynamics and control
systems, based upon Matlab and Simulink. It simplifies the Flight Control
System design process by integrating linear and non-linear analysis within
one software environment. The toolbox has been set up around a general
non-linear aircraft model which has been constructed in a modular way,
thus providing maximal flexibility to the user. The aircraft model can be
accessed by means of the graphical user-interface of Simulink. The toolbox
also includes some analytical Matlab routines for extracting steady-state
flight conditions and determining linearized models for user-specified
operating points, Simulink models of atmospheric disturbances and
radio-navigation systems, extensive models of a `classical' autopilot,
and several help-utilities which simplify the handling of the systems and
tools.
Keywords: Flight Control System Design, Aircraft Modeling, Non-linear
Simulation, Computer Assisted Design

ABOUT THE CURRENT FDC DISTRIBUTION PACKAGE

==========================================
This is the third beta version of FDC 1.4. Compared to the earlier beta's,
it incorporates some minor bug fixes and UI changes in the analytical tools.
FDC 1.4 has been designed for Matlab 5.3 / Simulink 3.0 (i.e. Matlab R11) or
newer. This version of the toolbox has been released under the terms of the
Open Software License, see copying.txt and license.txt for more information.
A user-manual for the FDC toolbox can be downloaded in PDF-format via the
FDC homepage. FDC 1.4 also includes HTML-based help-texts, which will help
to get you started. This HTML help facility should work correctly if you are
able to access the 'Matlab Help Desk' from within the Matlab environment on
your computer.
Older versions of the FDC toolbox are FDC 1.3, which is compatible with
Matlab 5.1 / Simulink 2.1 and newer, and FDC 1.2, which is compatible with
Matlab 4.2 / Simulink 1.3. Both versions are still available via the FDC
website (see below).

Installing the FDC toolbox

==========================
Note: the path-notations in this section are given in MS-Windows format.
Replace this by the appropriate format for other operating systems.
The following instructions will guide you through the installation and
initialization process (these instructions can also be found in chapter 7
of the FDC 1.4 user-manual, which also includes screenshots to illustrate
this process):
1. Copy the archive file FDC14.ZIP into a temporary directory.
2. Create a suitable destination directory for the FDC toolbox. The
recommended location is a subdirectory FDC14 within the TOOLBOX
directory of MATLAB but any other dedicated directory would do fine as
well. For example, if MATLAB itself has been installed into C:\MATLAB,
the recommended destination directory for the FDC toolbox would be
C:\MATLAB\TOOLBOX\FDC14, but if you prefer something like
K:\MYTOOLS\FDC14 that s fine also.
3. Unpack FDC14.ZIP into this destination directory. Be sure to retain
the FDC directory structure when unpacking. (If you use the MS-DOS
based PKUNZIP utility, this is achieved by using the -d option on the
pkunzip command-line; newer unpack routines, such as WINZIP or 7ZIP,
will normally retain the directory structure by default.)
NOTE: the total size of the extracted FDC files is approximately
2.4 Mbytes, but up to twice that amount of disk space may be required,
depending on the file-system in use.
4. At this stage, it is recommended to read the documentation in the FDC
subdirectory DOC. Apart from this README.TXT file, which may contain
important last-minute information, check out COPYING.TXT and LICENSE.TXT
for the terms of use. Other documentation files are CHANGELOG.TXT, which
describes the major changes in the last few FDC versions, ROADMAP.TXT,
which outlines past FDC developments and future plans, and CONTENTS.TXT,
which contains a complete list of FDC files.
5. Start MATLAB version 5.3 or later and use the command cd or chdir to go
to the FDC directory specified above (from now on denoted as 'FDC root-
directory'). This has been illustrated in figure 7.1, where it is assumed
that the FDC toolbox has been installed into the directory
K:\MYTOOLS\FDC14.
6. Type fdc at the command-line to run the FDC initialization routine. A
splash-screen will appear, to signal that the toolbox is being started;
click on the splash screen with the mouse pointer, or press any key to
continue (the splash screen will disappear).
7. The toolbox will now be initialized by appanding the FDC subdirectories
to the MATLAB-path. The default FDC search-path will be displayed, and
the initialization routine will ask: Path ok? (y=yes, n=no, s=suppress
this message in the future). If you have followed the above instructions,
 it is normally sufficient to verify the location of the FDC root-
directory; the option to change subdirectory names is meant to
accommodate possible future additions to the toolbox.
8. If the displayed path differs from the actual location of the FDC
directories, answer this question with n. The initialization routine will
direct you to a menu from where you can change the root-directory, change
or delete the subdirectories, or add newsubdirectories to the toolbox.
Select 'ready' to return to the directory-check window from step 7.
9. If the FDC path is correct, you can leave the directory-check window by
answering with y. Or if you want to suppress this directory-check (and
the directory editing features) for all future FDC sessions, answer with
s instead. If this latter option is selected, the initialization routine
will ask for confirmation.
10. Next, a welcome message will be shown to signal that the toolbox has been
initialized. The FDC directories have now been appended to the MATLAB
path, so all FDC programs and models can now be opened directly from the
command line, regardless of the current working directory. The main FDC
library can be accessed by typing fdclib, while the on-line helpfiles for
FDC 1.4 can be shown in a webbrowser or the MATLAB help browser by typing
browse fdc.
In addition, the FDC directories will be appended to the
bottom of the list in the MATLAB help window, which can be opened by
typing helpwin. Double-clicking those directories will reveal a brief
overview of their contents. (The same information can be opened directly
from the MATLAB command line by typing help <dirname>, where <dirname> is
the name of the FDC rootdirectory or subdirectory.)
Notice that the FDC directories will not be appended to the MATLAB path
permanently. After closing MATLAB it will be necessary to repeat steps 5 to
10 from the above list again: start MATLAB, change to the FDC root-
directory, type fdc at the command-line, and verify the directory structure.
This last step can be skipped for future FDC sessions by choosing the
suppress option in step 8.
For users who intend to use the FDC toolbox frequently, it may be convenient
to permanently append the FDC root-directory to the MATLAB path. This can be
achieved by manual editing of the MATLAB system files PARDEF.M or STARTUP.M,
or by means of the path browser, which can be started by typing editpath at
the command-line. See the MATLAB documentation for more information about
the MATLAB path.

More information
================
* FDC website:
The homepage is http://www.dutchroll.com or http://www.dutchroll.org
Frequently asked questions: http://www.dutchroll.com/faq.html
List of know problems: http://www.dutchroll.com/problems.html
* FDC user-manual:
This document can be downloaded in PDF format via the FDC website:
http://www.dutchroll.com/manual.html
It is a very useful resource, as it provides detailed theoretical
information as well as instructions for the practical application of
 this toolbox.

Uninstalling the FDC toolbox

============================
Although there is no uninstall utility for this toolbox, the process is
simple: just delete the entire FDC 1.4.0 directory, including all sub-
directories. If you have added the FDC directories to your Matlab path,
do not forget to delete them from the path definition file after
uninstalling the toolbox.

Getting started with open-loop simulations of the `Beaver'

==========================================================
If you want to make an open-loop simulation of the `Beaver', proceed as
follows:
1. Open the system OLOOP1 by typing oloop1 at the command-line, or by
double-clicking the corresponding 'button' in the main FDC library
FDCLIB. Notice that by default it contains a block-shaped input to the
elevator, which allows us to monitor the short-period and phugoid motions
of the aircraft.
2. Double-click the 'DATLOAD' button to retrieve the model parameters.
In the list-box that will be displayed, select the file AIRCRAFT.DAT.
3. Double-click the 'TRILOAD' button to load a trimmed flight condition.
A list-box will be opened, containing all files with extension TRI.
A file-name like 'CR4520.TRI' means: a wings-level steady-state flight
condition in CRuise flight at 45 m/s and flightlevel 20 (2000 ft). So,
for instance, select CR4520.TRI.
4. Start the simulation. One of the output variables from the aircraft
model will be plotted automatically, others may be shown after the
simulation has finished (which is after having determined the aircraft
motions for a period of 120 seconds after applying the block-input).
5. Double-click the button RESULTS. This will open a Matlab macro that
runs in the command-window. Select the angles to be expressed in
degrees and the angular velocities to be expressed in degrees per
second. The time-trajectories of all outputs have now been converted to
vectors in the Matlab workspace with self-explaining variable-names.
They can be plotted with commands such as:
plot(time,alpha);
plot(time,p);
plot(time,Hdot);
plot(time,deltae);
and so on. Or run the plotting-macro RESPLOT by typing:
resplot
at the command-line.
6. See the user manual for more information.

Contact Information
===================
For feedback or questions about the FDC toolbox, contact the author at
rauw@dutchroll.com, or fill in the feedback form on the FDC website at
http://contact.dutchroll.com.
The FDC homepage can be found at: http://www.dutchroll.com
-oOo-

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The FDC toolbox. Copyright M.O. Rauw, 1994-2005. All rights reserved.
This software is licensed under the Open Software License, version 2.1.
See the file copying.txt in the DOC subdirectory for detailed information
about the terms of use.
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