Increased Functionality of Continuation-Based Nonlinear System Analysis.

The high complexity of modern autonomous aerospace systems has created a need for new, powerful analysis techniques for control design and validation. This paper exploits the capabilities of continuation algorithms to derive a numerical analysis method that provides a systematic way to investigate how system properties local to the equilibrium condition around which the system is operated change throughout the operational envelope. The method is based on computing subsets of the system's equilibrium manifold with particular properties that are specified by equality constraints. The contribution of this work lies in the derivation of extended systems of equations that enable the definition of constraints on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the linearized dynamics, so that sets of equilibrium points with particular characteristics of the local dynamical behavior can be computed. The capabilities of the method are demonstrated through application to a fully nonlinear aircraft model with six degrees of freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]