AIR-SOAR: Intelligent Multi-Level Control

Abstract

Autonomous systems must be able to deal with dy-namic, unpredictable environments in real time. Our video describes a system for intelligent control of an airplane, within a realistic flight simulator (the Sili-con Graphics flight simulator). The simulator allows asynchronous control of the plane’s throttle, ailerons, elevator and other control surfaces by an external sys-tem, and it provides limited asynchronous sensing of the plane’s motion. The result is a highly dynamic, real time domain in which models of the plane (and, potentially, other aircraft) are updated 20 times a sec-ond. Control of flight is complex. Unexpected events such as wind or turbulence must be responded to in a timely fashion. Further, identical control movements have different effects depending on the plane’s position