Numerical Flight Vehicle Forward Dynamics With State-Space Lie-Group Integration Scheme

Dynamic simulation procedures of flight vehicle maneuvers need robust and efficient integration methods in order to allow for reliable simulation missions. Derivation of such integration schemes in Lie-group settings is especially efficient since the coordinate-free Lie-group dynamical models operate directly on SO(3) rotational matrices and angular velocities, avoiding local rotation parameters and artificial algebraic constraints as well as kinematical differential equations. In the adopted modeling approach, a state-space of the flight vehicle (modeled as a multi-body system comprising rigid bodies) is modeled as a Lie-group. The numerical algorithm is demonstrated and tested within the framework of the characteristic case study of the aircraft 3D maneuver.