This work presents the development of a nonlinear six degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) aircraft simulation in MATLAB, incorporating full rigid-body dynamics, aerodynamic forces, propulsion, and environmental disturbances. An optimal control strategy based on the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) is designed using a linearized model around trim conditions to stabilize the aircraft and track reference commands. Simulation results under wind disturbances reveal oscillatory and unstable behavior due to aggressive controller tuning and actuator saturation. These findings highlight the sensitivity of nonlinear aircraft systems to control design and emphasize the limitations of linear optimal control methods when applied to highly nonlinear dynamics. The study provides insight into flight stability, control challenges, and serves as a foundation for future work in robust and adaptive control systems.
Yassin Hassan (Wed,) studied this question.