Patent ID: 8761966

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a trajectory planner adapted to produce a command position vector for a fixed-wing aircraft; a TLC architecture electrically coupled to the trajectory planner to receive the command position vector from the trajectory planner; an avionic sensor electrically coupled to the TLC architecture to send a sensed parameter to the TLC architecture; and a control actuator electronically coupled to the TLC architecture to receive a control signal from the TLC architecture; wherein the TLC architecture includes: a processor; and program code configured to execute on the processor to generate the control signal by: determining in a first control loop a nominal body velocity vector and a feedback control body velocity command vector using the command position vector from the trajectory planner; determining in a second control loop a nominal body Euler angle vector, a feedback control Euler angle command vector, and a throttle setting feedback control command using the nominal body velocity vector and the feedback control body velocity command vector from the first control loop; determining in a third control loop a nominal body rate vector and a feedback control body rate command vector using the nominal Euler angle vector and the feedback control Euler angle command vector from the second control loop; determining in a fourth control loop a moment command vector using the nominal body rate vector and the feedback control body rate command vector from the third control loop; and determining the control signal using the moment command vector from the fourth control loop.