Predefined-Time Direct-Lift Control for Automatic Carrier Landing with Moving-Deck Prediction

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of automatic carrier landing, considering ship wake, gusts, sensor delays, and actuator constraints. A longitudinal predefined time envelope direct lift control (PT-DLC) method is proposed, combined with residual time-based deck motion prediction. First, models are established for the carrier's relative longitudinal dynamics, deck heave/pitch/roll, engineered wake and dry-like gusts, noisy delay measurements, and direct lift actuator hysteresis, saturation, rate limiting, and performance failures. Then, the designed controller integrates contracted predefined time, relaxation obstacle correction, bounded robust compensation, and end-point correction modules to achieve rapid vertical trajectory tracking through direct lift inversion. Finally, a unified and reproducible verification framework is constructed, with all comparison controllers sharing the same reference generation, sensors, actuators, and object models. Results from 100 paired Monte Carlo simulations, initial disturbance tests, actuator failure tests, and module ablation experiments demonstrate that PT-DLC, compared to other benchmark methods, exhibits faster tracking capability, higher landing accuracy, and stronger robustness under modeling constraints.