FDC 1.3.3 Revision date: May 18, 2002
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## THIS TOOLBOX IS DISTRIBUTED UNDER THE LICENSING TERMS OF THE ##
## DUTCHROLL OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE LICENSE (DOSSL), VERSION 1.0! ##
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FDC 1.3.3 --- A Simulink Toolbox for Flight
Dynamics and Control Analysis
M.O. Rauw
(rauw@dutchroll.com)
Haarlem, The Netherlands
February 1998, July 1998, June 2000, May 2001, December 2001, May 2002
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 minor release of FDC 1.3, which is identical to the
previous release (FDC 1.3 Service Release 2), except for its licensing
terms. This version is the first to be licensed under the Dutchroll
Open Source Software License (DOSSL), version 1.0; see LICENSE.TXT for
more information.
FDC 1.3.3 requires Matlab 5.1 / Simulink 2.1 or newer. If you use Matlab
4.x / Simulink 1.x, you can use version 1.2 of the toolbox, which is also
available via the FDC homepage (see below). FDC 1.3.3 has also been tested
successfully with Matlab 5.3 / Simulink 3.0 and Matlab 6.0 / Simulink 4.0.
If you encounter any problems with newer Matlab versions, please let me
know. Any suggestions for further improvements are also welcome; the
contact address is given at the bottom of this document. FDC 1.3.3 has
been stored in the file FDC13-3.ZIP.
Detailed documentation for this particular version is not available, but
the user-manual for the previous FDC version (1.2) will be of great help.
This user-manual is available in PostScript and PDF format via the FDC home-
page (see below).
FDC 1.3.3 includes HTML-based help-texts for on-line assistance, which will
also help to get you started. If you are able to access the 'Matlab Help
Desk' from your copy of Matlab, the HTML help-function for FDC 1.3 should
work correctly as well.
Installing the FDC toolbox
==========================
Note: the path-notations in this section are in Windows 9x format. Replace
this by the appropriate format for other operating systems.
1. Copy the file FDC13-3.ZIP to a temporary directory.
2. Unpack FDC13-3.ZIP to a suitable destination directory. It is recommended
to create a subdirectory (subdirectory) FDC13 in the TOOLBOX directory of
Matlab and use this as destination for FDC 1.3.3. For example, if
you have installed Matlab in the directory C:\MATLAB, the recommended
destination for FDC 1.3 SR2 will be C:\MATLAB\TOOLBOX\FDC13). It is
necessary to retain the FDC directory structure when unpacking. For
instance, if you use PKUNZIP for MS-DOS, this can be done by including
the -d option to the pkunzip command-line. Other unpack routines, such
as Winzip, will probably do this automatically.
NOTE: when unpacked, FDC 1.3.3 requires about 4.8 Mbytes of disk space!
3. Now start Matlab 5.1 (or later). The Matlab search path should now be
enhanced with the FDC directories. It is recommended to add the FDC root-
directory to the Matlab path permanently, since this simplifies future use.
This can be done with the Matlab utility EDITPATH.M. If you followed
the recommendations above, the FDC root-directory will be something like
C:\MATLAB\TOOLBOX\FDC13. NOTE: FDC 1.3.3 does NOT support directory
names that contain spaces! Therefore, if you have installed Matlab to
C:\Program Files\Matlab, it is recommended to install FDC 1.3.3 into
C:\FDC13 or any other directory that does not contain spaces. Select
this directory and select 'Add to path', 'Add to back', and 'OK'. Next,
select 'Save settings' to make this a permanent change. (Alternatively,
if you don't want to have the FDC root-directory permanently saved to the
search-path, use the CHDIR command to go to this root-directory, e.g.:
chdir c:\matlab\toolbox\fdc13, and proceed with the following step.)
4. Run FDC.M. After some welcome messages, this routine will initialize
the FDC toolbox and enhance the search-path with the remaining FDC
subdirectories. You will be asked to check whether the FDC path is
correct. In practice, only the FDC root-directory may be faulty,
especially if you did not install the toolbox to the \matlab\toolbox\fdc13
directory. So pay special attention to the FDC root-directory. If you are
convinced that everything is allright, and if you're not planning to
change anything in the nearby future, press 'S' to suppress the
directory-check for future FDC sessions.
5. The toolbox has now been installed completely. You now have the option
to go to the main FDC library, view the HTML-based help texts, or view
the contents of the toolbox-directories. The last option will show ALL
Matlab toolboxes, not only FDC 1.3.3 - double-clicking the directory
names will yield more information about their contents. If you don't
want any of these options, choose 'Cancel'. Opening the FDC library is
then still possible by typing 'fdclib' (without the quotes) at the
Matlab command-line, and the index-page of the HTML help-texts can be
accessed by typing 'fdchelp index' at the command-line.
It is recommended to view the *.TXT files in the subdirectory DOC for
more information:
CONTENTS.TXT gives a complete overview of the files from FDC 1.3
HISTORY.TXT gives an overview of the FDC development since the
very fist version
LICENSE.TXT license agreement
README1.TXT this file
README2.TXT gives some background information about compatibility
problems you may encounter when upgrading from a
previous version of the FDC toolbox
SUPPORT.TXT gives information about the user-support for FDC 1.3
WHATSNEW.TXT lists the new features in FDC 1.3
6. If you use Matlab 5.2 / Simulink 2.2 (i.e. release 10), or newer, you will
probably receive the following warning message when you try to open any
Simulink system from the FDC toolbox:
Warning: Run 'slupdate('[system name]')' to convert the block diagram
to the format of the current version of Simulink
To eliminate this warning in future FDC sessions, you should simply
follow the instruction in the warning message: after opening the system,
run 'slupdate', and save the system directly thereafter. If you re-open
the system later, the warning message will be gone. Notice that you may
also receive warning messages from some of the Matlab programs from the
FDC toolbox if you use Matlab 5.2 or newer. You can turn off the warning
messages with the 'warning off' command, but it is recommended to take
appropriate action, as indicated in the warning message itself. However,
warning messages are different from error messages, in that they don't
stop program execution and don't affect the results.
7. Visit http://www.dutchroll.com/problems.html to view a list of known
issues for the FDC toolbox. See http://www.dutchroll.com/faq.html for
a list of frequently asked questions. (Note: if these addresses do not
work correctly, check out http://www.dutchroll.com itself.)
8. Before each next FDC session, it is necessary to run FDC.M again, in
order to obtain the appropriate path-enhancement. If you used EDITPATH
in step 3 as prescribed, just type fdc at the command-line after starting
Matlab. Otherwise, go to the fdc root-directory first, and then type fdc.
If you use the FDC toolbox often, it may be useful to permanently add the
FDC directories to the Matlab path. This includes the FDC root-directory,
plus the following subdirectories:
\AIRCRAFT
\APILOT
\DATA
\EXAMPLES
\HELP
\NAVIGATE
\TOOLS
\WIND
(adding \DOC is not really necessary). If these directories are available
in the Matlab path, it it no longer necessary to run FDC.M before an FDC
session. In that case, the main menu can be opened by typing
fdc_strt
at the Matlab command prompt.
Uninstalling the FDC toolbox
============================
Although there is no uninstall utility for this toolbox, the process is
simple: just delete the entire FDC 1.3 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.
The FDC 1.2 user-manual
=======================
As said before, there is no documentation for FDC 1.3. However, the
user-manual for FDC 1.2 still provides a very valuable source of infor-
mation. The changes in FDC version 1.3 mainly concern the user-interface
and on-line help-functions, while the structure of all models, as well
as the theoretical backgrounds have not changed since version 1.2.
Disregard the installation instructions in the report, apply the in-
structions from this README-file instead, and check out the other *.TXT
files and on-line documentation to learn more about the differences
between FDC 1.2 and FDC 1.3. As a rule of thumb: if the information in
the on-line documentation differs from that in the user-manual, the
on-line version is probably right. :)
The user-manual can be obtained in PostScript or PDF format via the
download page of the FDC website: http://download.dutchroll.com (follow
the link to the FDC 1.2 user-manual; check out http://www.dutchroll.com
itself if the download link doesn't work). Note: it is not necessary to
download FDC 1.2 itself, unless you really need a Matlab 4 version of
the FDC toolbox. If you use Matlab 5.1 and Simulink 2.1 or newer, it
would be a waste of time and source of frustration to download FDC
version 1.2, because it is not compatible with Matlab 5/Simulink 2 and
newer.
Possible problems and how to solve them
=======================================
Missing block diagrams?!?
-------------------------
All graphical Simulink models were created under a screen-resolution
of 800x600 pixels. In order to prevent them from being hidden for
users who run Simulink under a lower screen-resolution, the block-
diagrams have been positioned in the upper-left corner of the
screen. However, there is still a chance that one or more systems
have slipped through this positioning process. So if you don't see
anything appearing when you open a graphical system or double-click
a subsystem block, try using the 'tile' or 'cascade' options of MS
Windows. It is likely that this will reveal the 'missing' block-
diagrams.
Nothing happens?!?
------------------
Sometimes, if you double-click a title-block in a graphical Simulink
system, or press a button of a graphical user menu, it may seem that
nothing happens. In that case, check out the command window! It is
very likely that the program expects you to enter something in there.
If your screen is large enough, it is recommended to keep the command
window constantly in view to solve this problem. Unfortunately,
Simulink does not automatically activate the command window if
something is displayed in there. In future versions of the FDC toolbox
I will try to avoid using the command-window as much as possible...
Other known problems
====================
An up-to-date list of know problems can be found at:
http://problems.dutchroll.com. (Check out http://www.dutchroll.com if
that link doesn't work.)
Copying
=======
The FDC toolbox may be copied freely under the restrictions put forward
in LICENCE.TXT, which can be found in the subdirectory DOC of 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 its 'button-block' 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 'LOADER' button to retrieve the model parameters.
In the list-box that will be displayed, select the file AIRCRAFT.DAT.
3. Double-click the 'INCOLOAD' button and select the option 'Load 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 for instance 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 like:
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. See the user manual for more information.
Contact Address
===============
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, 1994-2002. All rights reserved.
This software is licensed under the Dutchroll Open Source Software
License (DOSSL), version 1.0. See LICENSE.TXT in the DOC subdirectory
for detailed information.
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