Patent ID: 8478456

Claim:
A flight-control system for a flight vehicle configured to: control a flight of a flight vehicle according to a first mode of operation; control the flight of the flight vehicle according to a second mode of operation to use less energy than the first mode of operation, wherein the first mode of operation is a performance mode of operation in which aerodynamic elements of the vehicle are controlled with a higher-bandwidth response, and wherein the second mode of operation is an economy mode of operation in which the aerodynamic elements of the vehicle are controlled with a tower-bandwidth response; receive guidance commands to guide the flight vehicle in flight; pre-filter the guidance commands according to the performance mode of operation or the economy mode of operation to issue reference state commands; issue state errors as a sum of the reference state commands and a feedback signal containing measurements of the physical states of the aerodynamic elements in a control loop; and act on the state errors to produce an actuating signal that controls the positions of the aerodynamic elements.