Classical design and analysis techniques, many of which date back to the 1950′s, are still predominantly used in the aerospace industry for the design and analysis of automatic flight control and aero-engine control systems. The continued success and popularity of these techniques is particularly impressive considering the radical advances in aircraft and spacecraft design and avionics technology made over this period. Clearly, an understanding of both the advantages and limitations of these methods is essential in order to properly evaluate the likely usefulness of more modern techniques for the design and analysis of aerospace control systems. One of the themes of this book is that the multivariable robust control methods it describes are logical and natural extensions of the more classical methods, and not replacements for them. It is assumed that readers of this publication are already familiar with classical flight control techniques. Emphasis is on the philosophy, advantages and limitations of the classical approach to flight control system design and analysis. Abstracted in: Inspec
