Abstract: Aiming at the difficulties of a class of hypersonic flight vehicle (HFV) involving variable configurations, the engineering application requirements are analyzed, and the research progress of several typical nonlinear control methods is summarized. Firstly, the sources and characteristics of several common research models of hypersonic flight vehicle are summarized. Secondly, based on the actual engineering requirements, the control difficulties and needs for the control system capability of such vehicle are analyzed. Furthermore, the current status of several typical nonlinear control methods and intelligent control methods for hypersonic flight vehicle are summarized, and the frameworks of various control schemes are given. Finally, some problems and directions for further research are discussed for the HFV control with diversified mission forms and complicated environment in the future.

Key words: Hypersonic flight vehicle, Hypersonic morphing flight vehicle, Nonlinear control, Fault tolerant control, Intelligent control