Vibration Control of Passenger Aircraft Active Landing Gear Using Neural Network-Based Fuzzy Inference System

Runway surface roughness is recognized as a principal cause of passenger aircraft vibration during taxiing, adversely affecting ride comfort, safety, and even human health. Effective mitigation of such vibrations is therefore essential for improving passenger experience and operational reliability. Previous studies have investigated passive, semi-active, and intelligent controllers such as PID, H∞, and ANFIS; however, the comprehensive application of a robust adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (RANFIS) to active landing-gear control has not yet been addressed. The novelty of this work lies in combining robustness with adaptive learning of fuzzy rules and neural network parameters, thereby filling this critical gap in the literature. To investigate this, a six-degrees-of-freedom aircraft dynamic model was developed, and three controllers were comparatively evaluated: model-based neural network (MBNN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and the proposed RANFIS. Performance was assessed in terms of rise time, settling time, peak value, and steady-state error under stochastic runway excitations. Simulation results show that while MBNN and ANFIS provide satisfactory control, RANFIS achieved superior performance, reducing vibration peaks to ≤0.3–1.0 cm, shortening settling times to <1.5 s, and decreasing steady-state errors to <0.05 cm. These findings confirm that RANFIS offers a more effective solution for enhancing comfort, safety, and structural durability in next-generation active landing-gear systems.