control theory Control theory is a field of mathematics that deals with the control of dynamical systems in engineered processes and machines. The objective is to develop a model or algorithm governing the application of system inputs to drive the system to a ...

, gain scheduling is an approach to control of non-linear systems that uses a family of linear controllers, each of which provides satisfactory control for a different operating point of the system. One or more

observable In physics, an observable is a physical quantity that can be measured. Examples include position and momentum. In systems governed by classical mechanics, it is a real-valued "function" on the set of all possible system states. In quantum phys ...

variables, called the ''scheduling variables'', are used to determine what operating region the system is currently in and to enable the appropriate linear controller. For example, in an aircraft flight control system, the

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

and

Mach number Mach number (M or Ma) (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Moravian physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. : \mathrm = \ ...

might be the scheduling variables, with different linear controller parameters available (and automatically plugged into the controller) for various combinations of these two variables. A relatively large scope state of the art about gain scheduling has been published in (Survey of Gain-Scheduling Analysis & Design, D.J.Leith, WE.Leithead).

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