Search results for: flight performance

Authors: Georges Ghazi, Marc-Henry Devillers, Ruxandra M. Botez

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Aircraft flight trajectory optimization has been identified to be a promising solution for reducing both airline costs and the aviation net carbon footprint. Nowadays, this role has been mainly attributed to the flight management system. This system is an onboard multi-purpose computer responsible for providing the crew members with the optimized flight plan from a destination to the next. To accomplish this function, the flight management system uses a variety of look-up tables to compute the optimal speed and altitude for each flight regime instantly. Because the cruise is the longest segment of a typical flight, the proposed algorithm is focused on minimizing fuel consumption for this flight phase. In this paper, a complete methodology to estimate the aircraft performance and subsequently compute the optimal speed in cruise is presented. Results showed that the obtained performance database was accurate enough to predict the flight costs associated with the cruise phase.

Keywords: Cessna Citation X, cruise speed optimization, flight cost, cost index, and golden section search

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Authors: Inkyu Kim, SangMan Moon

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This IEEE 802.11b protocol provides up to 11Mbps data rate, whereas aerospace industry wants to seek higher data rate COTS data link system in the UAV. The Total Maximum Throughput (TMT) and delay time are studied on many researchers in the past years This paper provides theoretical data throughput performance of UAV formation flight data link using the existing 802.11b performance theory. We operate the UAV formation flight with more than 30 quad copters with 802.11b protocol. We may be predicting that UAV formation flight numbers have to bound data link protocol performance limitations.

Keywords: UAV datalink, UAV formation flight datalink, UAV WLAN datalink application, UAV IEEE 802.11b datalink application

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Authors: Tugrul Oktay, Mehmet Konar, Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed, Murat Aydin, Firat Sal, Murat Onay, Mustafa Soylak

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In this paper, it is aimed to improve autonomous flight performance of a load-carrying (payload: 3 kg and total: 6kg) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) through active wing and horizontal tail active morphing and also integrated autopilot system parameters (i.e. P, I, D gains) and UAV parameters (i.e. extension ratios of wing and horizontal tail during flight) design. For this purpose, a loadcarrying UAV (i.e. ZANKA-II) is manufactured in Erciyes University, College of Aviation, Model Aircraft Laboratory is benefited. Optimum values of UAV parameters and autopilot parameters are obtained using a stochastic optimization method. Using this approach autonomous flight performance of UAV is substantially improved and also in some adverse weather conditions an opportunity for safe flight is satisfied. Active morphing and integrated design approach gives confidence, high performance and easy-utility request of UAV users.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles, morphing, autopilots, autonomous performance

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Authors: Pavel Zikmund, Robert Popela

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Extreme formation is a theoretical concept of self-sustain flight when a big Airliner is followed by a small UAV glider flying in airliner’s wake vortex. The paper presents results of climb analysis with a goal to lift the gliding UAV to airliner’s cruise altitude. Wake vortex models, the UAV drag polar and basic parameters and airliner’s climb profile are introduced at first. Then, flight performance of the UAV in the wake vortex is evaluated by analytical methods. Time history of optimal distance between the airliner and the UAV during the climb is determined. The results are encouraging, therefore available UAV drag margin for electricity generation is figured out for different vortex models.

Keywords: flight in formation, self-sustained flight, UAV, wake vortex

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Authors: Raunak Munjal, Mohammad Akif Ali, Prithiv Raj

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This study investigates the relative effectiveness of various flight controllers for drone obstacle avoidance. To assess ultrasonic sensors' performance in real-time obstacle detection, they are integrated with ESP32 and Arduino Nano controllers. The study determines which controller is most effective for this particular application by analyzing important parameters such as accuracy (mean absolute error), standard deviation, and mean distance range. Furthermore, the study explores the possibility of incorporating state-driven algorithms into the Arduino Nano configuration to potentially improve obstacle detection performance. The results offer significant perspectives for enhancing sensor integration, choosing the best flight controller for obstacle avoidance, and maybe enhancing drones' general environmental navigation ability.

Keywords: ultrasonic distance measurement, accuracy and consistency, flight controller comparisons, ESP32 vs arduino nano

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Authors: Syed Muhammad Awais Tahir, Syed Hossein Raza Hamdani

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In the last two years, there has been a substantial increase in the rate of satellite launches. To keep up with the technology, it is imperative that the launch cost must be made affordable, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. Launch cost is directly affected by the launch vehicle’s aerodynamic performance. Pegasus-XL SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle) has been serving as a commercial SLV for the last 26 years, commencing its commercial flight operation from the six operational sites all around the US and Europe, and the Marshal Islands. Aerodynamic heating and drag contribute largely to Pegasus’s flight performance. The objective of this study is to reduce the aerodynamic heating and drag on Pegasus’s body significantly for supersonic and hypersonic flight regimes. Aerodynamic data for Pegasus’s first flight has been validated through CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), and then drag and aerodynamic heating is reduced by using a combination of a forward-facing cylindrical spike and a conical aero-disk at the actual operational flight conditions. CFD analysis using ANSYS fluent will be carried out for Mach no. ranges from 0.83 to 7.8, and AoA (Angle of Attack) ranges from -4 to +24 degrees for both simple and spiked-configuration, and then the comparison will be drawn using a variety of graphs and contours. Expected drag reduction for supersonic flight is to be around 15% to 25%, and for hypersonic flight is to be around 30% to 50%, especially for AoA < 15⁰. A 5% to 10% reduction in aerodynamic heating is expected to be achieved for hypersonic regions. In conclusion, the aerodynamic performance of air-launched Pegasus-XL SLV can be further enhanced, leading to its optimal fuel usage to achieve a more economical orbital flight.

Keywords: aerodynamics, pegasus-XL, drag reduction, aerodynamic heating, satellite launch vehicle, SLV, spike, aero-disk

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Authors: M. W. Sun, Y. Zhang, L. M. Zhang, Z. H. Wang, Z. Q. Chen

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In the realm of flight control, the Proportional- Derivative (PD) control is still widely used for the attitude control in practice, particularly for the pitch control, and the attitude dynamics using PD controller should be investigated deeply. According to the empirical knowledge about the unstable flight dynamics, the control parameter combination conditions to generate sole or finite number of closed-loop oscillations, which is a quite smooth response and is more preferred by practitioners, are presented in analytical or numerical manners. To analyze the effects of the combination conditions of the control parameters, the roots of several polynomials are sought to obtain feasible solutions. These conditions can also be plotted in a 2-D plane which makes the conditions be more explicit by using multiple interval operations. Finally, numerical examples are used to validate the proposed methods and some comparisons are also performed.

Keywords: attitude control, dynamic performance, numerical solving method, interval, unstable flight dynamics

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Authors: Jeet Shende, Leonid Shpanin, Misko Abramiuk, Mattew Goodwin, Nicholas Pickett

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Energy harvesting on board the Unmanned Ariel Vehicle (UAV) is one of the most rapidly growing emerging technologies and consists of the collection of small amounts of energy, for different applications, from unconventional sources that are incidental to the operation of the parent system or device. Different energy harvesting techniques have already been investigated in the multirotor drones, where the energy collected comes from the systems surrounding ambient environment and typically involves the conversion of solar, kinetic, or thermal energies into electrical energy. The energy harvesting from the vibrated propeller using the piezoelectric components inside the propeller has also been proven to be feasible. However, the impact on the UAV flight performance using this technology has not been investigated. In this contribution the impact on the multirotor drone operation has been investigated at different flight control configurations which support the efficient performance of the propeller vibration energy harvesting. The industrially made MANTIS X8-PRO octocopter frame kit was used to explore the octocopter operation which was modelled using SolidWorks 3D CAD package for simulation studies. The octocopter flight control strategy is developed through integration of the SolidWorks 3D CAD software and MATLAB/Simulink simulation environment for evaluation of the octocopter behaviour under different simulated flight modes and octocopter geometries. Analysis of the two modelled octocopter geometries and their flight performance is presented via graphical representation of simulated parameters. The possibility of not using the landing gear in octocopter geometry is demonstrated. The conducted study evaluates the octocopter’s flight control technique and its impact on the energy harvesting mechanism developed on board the octocopter. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulation results of the modelled octocopter in operation are presented exploring the performance of the octocopter flight control and structural configurations. Applications of both octocopter structures and their flight control strategy are discussed.

Keywords: energy harvesting, flight control modelling, object modeling, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: N. Borjalilu, P. Rabiei, A. Enjoo

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Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) program assists an operator in aviation industries to identify, quantify, assess and address operational safety risks, in order to improve safety of flight operations. FDM is a powerful tool for an aircraft operator integrated into the operator’s Safety Management System (SMS), allowing to detect, confirm, and assess safety issues and to check the effectiveness of corrective actions, associated with human errors. This article proposes a model for safety risk assessment level of flight data in a different aspect of event focus based on fuzzy set values. It permits to evaluate the operational safety level from the point of view of flight activities. The main advantages of this method are proposed qualitative safety analysis of flight data. This research applies the opinions of the aviation experts through a number of questionnaires Related to flight data in four categories of occurrence that can take place during an accident or an incident such as: Runway Excursions (RE), Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), Mid-Air Collision (MAC), Loss of Control in Flight (LOC-I). By weighting each one (by F-TOPSIS) and applying it to the number of risks of the event, the safety risk of each related events can be obtained.

Keywords: F-topsis, fuzzy set, flight data monitoring (FDM), flight safety

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Authors: Yao Jie, Yeo Khoon Seng

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In recent decades, flapping wing aerodynamics has attracted great interest. Understanding the physics of biological flyers such as birds and insects can help improve the performance of micro air vehicles. The present research focuses on the aerodynamics of insect-like flapping wing flight with the approach of numerical computation. Insect model of hawkmoth is adopted in the numerical study with rigid wing assumption currently. The numerical model integrates the computational fluid dynamics of the flow and active control of wing kinematics to achieve stable flight. The computation grid is a hybrid consisting of background Cartesian nodes and clouds of mesh-free grids around immersed boundaries. The generalized finite difference method is used in conjunction with single value decomposition (SVD-GFD) in computational fluid dynamics solver to study the dynamics of a free hovering hummingbird hawkmoth. The longitudinal dynamics of the hovering flight is governed by three control parameters, i.e., wing plane angle, mean positional angle and wing beating frequency. In present work, a PID controller works out the appropriate control parameters with the insect motion as input. The controller is adjusted to acquire desired maneuvering of the insect flight. The numerical scheme in present study is proven to be accurate and stable to simulate the flight of the hummingbird hawkmoth, which has relatively high Reynolds number. The PID controller is responsive to provide feedback to the wing kinematics during the hovering flight. The simulated hovering flight agrees well with the real insect flight. The present numerical study offers a promising route to investigate the free flight aerodynamics of insects, which could overcome some of the limitations of experiments.

Keywords: aerodynamics, flight control, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), flapping-wing flight

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Authors: T. Sanches, K. Bousson

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As part of the development of a 4D autopilot system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), i.e. a time-dependent robust trajectory generation and control algorithm, this work addresses the problem of optimal path control based on the flight sensors data output that may be unreliable due to noise on data acquisition and/or transmission under certain circumstances. Although several filtering methods, such as the Kalman-Bucy filter or the Linear Quadratic Gaussian/Loop Transfer Recover Control (LQG/LTR), are available, the utter complexity of the control system, together with the robustness and reliability required of such a system on a UAV for airworthiness certifiable autonomous flight, required the development of a proper robust filter for a nonlinear system, as a way of further mitigate errors propagation to the control system and improve its ,performance. As such, a nonlinear algorithm based upon the LQG/LTR, is validated through computational simulation testing, is proposed on this paper.

Keywords: autonomous flight, LQG/LTR, nonlinear state estimator, robust flight control

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Authors: Dmitry Fedoseyev

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The ultimate success of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) depends largely on the effective control of their flight, especially in variable wind conditions. This paper investigates different approaches to selecting the optimal flight level to maximize the range of UAVs. We propose to consider methods based on mathematical models of atmospheric conditions, as well as the use of sensor data and machine learning algorithms to automatically optimize the flight level in real-time. The proposed approaches promise to improve the efficiency and range of UAVs in various wind conditions, which may have significant implications for the application of these systems in various fields, including geodesy, environmental surveillance, and search and rescue operations.

Keywords: drone, UAV, flight trajectory, wind-searching, efficiency

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Authors: Bernardo Cortez, Florian Peter, Thomas Lausenhammer, Paulo Oliveira

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Designing missiles’ autopilot controllers have been a complex task, given the extensive flight envelope and the nonlinear flight dynamics. A solution that can excel both in nominal performance and in robustness to uncertainties is still to be found. While Control Theory often debouches into parameters’ scheduling procedures, Reinforcement Learning has presented interesting results in ever more complex tasks, going from videogames to robotic tasks with continuous action domains. However, it still lacks clearer insights on how to find adequate reward functions and exploration strategies. To the best of our knowledge, this work is a pioneer in proposing Reinforcement Learning as a framework for flight control. In fact, it aims at training a model-free agent that can control the longitudinal non-linear flight dynamics of a missile, achieving the target performance and robustness to uncertainties. To that end, under TRPO’s methodology, the collected experience is augmented according to HER, stored in a replay buffer and sampled according to its significance. Not only does this work enhance the concept of prioritized experience replay into BPER, but it also reformulates HER, activating them both only when the training progress converges to suboptimal policies, in what is proposed as the SER methodology. The results show that it is possible both to achieve the target performance and to improve the agent’s robustness to uncertainties (with low damage on nominal performance) by further training it in non-nominal environments, therefore validating the proposed approach and encouraging future research in this field.

Keywords: Reinforcement Learning, flight control, HER, missile autopilot, TRPO

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Authors: K. Parandhama Gowd

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The aim of this research paper is to conceptualize, discuss, analyze and propose alternate design methodologies for futuristic Black Box for flight safety. The proposal also includes global networking concepts for real time surveillance and monitoring of flight performance parameters including GPS parameters. It is expected that this proposal will serve as a failsafe real time diagnostic tool for accident investigation and location of debris in real time. In this paper, an attempt is made to improve the existing methods of flight data recording techniques and improve upon design considerations for futuristic FDR to overcome the trauma of not able to locate the block box. Since modern day communications and information technologies with large bandwidth are available coupled with faster computer processing techniques, the attempt made in this paper to develop a failsafe recording technique is feasible. Further data fusion/data warehousing technologies are available for exploitation.

Keywords: flight data recorder (FDR), black box, diagnostic tool, global networking, cockpit voice and data recorder (CVDR), air traffic control (ATC), air traffic, telemetry, tracking and control centers ATTTCC)

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Authors: G. Kloudova, M. Stehlik

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Optimal human performance is a key goal in the professional setting of military pilots, which is a highly challenging atmosphere. The aviation environment requires substantial cognitive effort and is rich in potential stressors. Therefore, it is important to analyze variables such as mental workload to ensure safe conditions. Pilot mental workload could be measured using several tools, but most of them are very subjective. This paper details research conducted with military pilots using psychophysiological methods such as electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate (HR) monitoring. The data were measured in a simulator as well as under real flight conditions. All of the pilots were exposed to highly demanding flight tasks and showed big individual response differences. On that basis, the individual pattern for each pilot was created counting different EEG features and heart rate variations. Later on, it was possible to distinguish the most difficult flight tasks for each pilot that should be more extensively trained. For training purposes, an application was developed for the instructors to decide which of the specific tasks to focus on during follow-up training. This complex system can help instructors detect the mentally demanding parts of the flight and enhance the training of military pilots to achieve optimal performance.

Keywords: cognitive effort, human performance, military pilots, psychophysiological methods

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Authors: Shoeb A. Adeel, Shashant Anand, Vivek Paul, Dinesh, Suraj, Roshan

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The paper presents a study of micro air vehicles (MAVs) with wingspans of 20 Cm with two different airfoil configurations. MAVs have vast potential applications in both military and civilian areas. These MAVs are fully autonomous and supply real-time data. The paper focuses on two different designs of the MAVs one being N22 airfoil and the other a flat plate with similar dimension. As designed, the MAV would fly in a low Reynolds-number regime at airspeeds of 15 & 20 m/sec. Propulsion would be provided by an electric motor with an advanced lithium. Because of the close coupling between vehicle elements, system integration would be a significant challenge, requiring tight packaging and multifunction components to meet mass limitations and Centre of Gravity (C.G) balancing. These MAVs are feasible and within a couple of years of technology development in key areas including sensors, propulsion, Aerodynamics, and packaging these would be easily available to the users at affordable prices. The paper finally compares the flight performance of the two configurations.

Keywords: airfoil, CFD, MAV, flight performance, endurance, climb, lift, drag

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Authors: Castells Pau, Poetsch Christophe

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The effect of gust and turbulence encounters on aircraft is a wide field of study which allows different approaches, from high-fidelity multidisciplinary simulations to more simplified models adapted to industrial applications. The typical main goal is to predict the gust loads on the aircraft in order to ensure a safe design and achieve certification. Another topic widely studied is the gust loads reduction through an active control law. The impact of gusts on aircraft handling qualities is of interest as well in the analysis of in-service events so as to evaluate the aircraft response and the performance of the flight control laws. Traditionally, gust loads and handling qualities are addressed separately with different models adapted to the specific needs of each discipline. In this paper, an assessment of the differences between both models is presented and a strategy to better account for the physics of gust encounters in a typical flight dynamics model is proposed based on the model used for gust loads analysis. The applied corrections aim to capture the gust unsteady aerodynamics and propagation as well as the effect of dynamic flexibility at low frequencies. Results from the gust loads model at different flight conditions and measures from real events are used for validation. An assessment of a possible extension of steady aerodynamic nonlinearities to low frequency range is also addressed. The proposed corrections provide meaningful means to evaluate the performance and possible adjustments of the flight control laws.

Keywords: flight dynamics, gust loads, handling qualities, unsteady aerodynamics

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Authors: Georges Ghazi, Magali Gelhaye, Ruxandra Botez

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Over the years, the Flight Management System (FMS) has experienced a continuous improvement of its many features, to the point of becoming the pilot’s primary interface for flight planning operation on the airplane. With the assistance of the FMS, the concept of distance and time has been completely revolutionized, providing the crew members with the determination of the optimized route (or flight plan) from the departure airport to the arrival airport. To accomplish this function, the FMS needs an accurate Aircraft Performance Model (APM) of the aircraft. In general, APMs that equipped most modern FMSs are established before the entry into service of an individual aircraft, and results from the combination of a set of ordinary differential equations and a set of performance databases. Unfortunately, an aircraft in service is constantly exposed to dynamic loads that degrade its flight characteristics. These degradations endow two main origins: airframe deterioration (control surfaces rigging, seals missing or damaged, etc.) and engine performance degradation (fuel consumption increase for a given thrust). Thus, after several years of service, the performance databases and the APM associated to a specific aircraft are no longer representative enough of the actual aircraft performance. It is important to monitor the trend of the performance deterioration and correct the uncertainties of the aircraft model in order to improve the accuracy the flight management system predictions. The basis of this research lies in the new ability to continuously update an Aircraft Performance Model (APM) during flight using an adaptive lookup table technique. This methodology was developed and applied to the well-known Cessna Citation X business aircraft. For the purpose of this study, a level D Research Aircraft Flight Simulator (RAFS) was used as a test aircraft. According to Federal Aviation Administration the level D is the highest certification level for the flight dynamics modeling. Basically, using data available in the Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM), a first APM describing the variation of the engine fan speed and aircraft fuel flow w.r.t flight conditions was derived. This model was next improved using the proposed methodology. To do that, several cruise flights were performed using the RAFS. An algorithm was developed to frequently sample the aircraft sensors measurements during the flight and compare the model prediction with the actual measurements. Based on these comparisons, a correction was performed on the actual APM in order to minimize the error between the predicted data and the measured data. In this way, as the aircraft flies, the APM will be continuously enhanced, making the FMS more and more precise and the prediction of trajectories more realistic and more reliable. The results obtained are very encouraging. Indeed, using the tables initialized with the FCOM data, only a few iterations were needed to reduce the fuel flow prediction error from an average relative error of 12% to 0.3%. Similarly, the FCOM prediction regarding the engine fan speed was reduced from a maximum error deviation of 5.0% to 0.2% after only ten flights.

Keywords: aircraft performance, cruise, trajectory optimization, adaptive lookup tables, Cessna Citation X

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Authors: Chelsea-Anne Edwards, Paul Parker

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Flight school members are facing a major disruption in the technologies available for them to fly as electric planes enter the aviation industry. The year 2020 marked a new era in aviation with the first type certification of an electric plane. The Pipistrel Velis Electro is a two-seat electric aircraft (e-plane) designed for flight training. Electric flight training has the potential to deeply reduce emissions, noise, and cost of pilot training. Though these are all attractive features, understanding must be developed on the perceptions of the essential actor of the technology, the pilot. This study asks student pilots, flight instructors, flight center managers, and other members of flight schools about their perceptions of e-planes. The questions were divided into three categories: safety and trust of the technology, expected costs in comparison to conventional planes, and interest in the technology, including their desire to fly electric planes. Participants were recruited from flight schools using a protocol approved by the Office of Research Ethics. None of these flight schools have an e-plane in their fleet so these views are based on perceptions rather than direct experience. The results revealed perceptions that were strongly positive with many qualitative comments indicating great excitement about the potential of the new electric aviation technology. Some concerns were raised regarding battery endurance limits. Overall, the flight school community is clearly in favor of introducing electric propulsion technology and reducing the environmental impacts of their industry.

Keywords: electric planes, flight training, green aircraft, student pilots, sustainable aviation

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Authors: Assem Sallam, Aly Elzahaby, Ahmed Makled, Mohamed Khalil

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Change in design parameters of launch vehicle affects its overall flight path trajectory. In this paper, several design parameters are introduced to study their effect. Selected parameters are the launch vehicle mass, which is presented in the form of payload mass, the maximum allowable angle of attack the launch vehicle can withstand, the flight path angle that is predefined for the launch vehicle second stage, the required inclination and its effect on the launch azimuth and finally by changing the launch pad coordinate. Selected design parameters are studied for their effect on the variation of altitude, ground range, absolute velocity and the flight path angle. The study gives a general mean of adjusting the design parameters to reach the required launch vehicle performance.

Keywords: launch vehicle azimuth, launch vehicle trajectory, launch vehicle payload, launch pad location

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Authors: Adil Loya, Kamran Maqsood, Muhammad Duraid

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Aerodynamic stability coefficients are necessary to be known before any unmanned aircraft flight is performed. This requires expertise on aerodynamics and stability control of the aircraft. To enable efficacious performance of aircraft requires that a well-defined flight path and aerodynamics should be defined beforehand. This paper presents a study on the aerodynamics of an unmanned aero vehicle (UAV) during flight conditions. Current research holds comparative studies of different parameters for flight aerodynamic, measured using two different open source analytical software programs. These software packages are DATCOM and XLRF5, which help in depicting the flight aerodynamic variables. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was also used to perform aerodynamic analysis for which Star CCM+ was used. Output trends of the study demonstrate high accuracies between the two software programs with that of CFD. It can be seen that the Coefficient of Lift (CL) obtained from DATCOM and XFLR is similar to CL of CFD simulation. In the similar manner, other potential aerodynamic stability parameters obtained from analytical software are in good agreement with CFD.

Keywords: XFLR5, DATCOM, computational fluid dynamic, unmanned aero vehicle

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Authors: Kevin Wongleedee

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The purposes of this research were to study the image of a flight attendant career from the perspective of high school students in Bangkok and to study the level of interest to pursue a flight attendant career. A probability random sampling of 400 students was utilized. Half the sample group came from private high schools and the other half came from public high schools. A questionnaire was used to collect the data and small in-depth interviews were also used to get their opinions about the image and their level of interest in the flight attendant career. The findings revealed that the majority of respondents had a medium level of interest in the flight attendant career. High school students who majored in Math-English were more interested in a flight attendant career than high school students who majored in Science-Math with a 0.05 level of significance. The image of flight attendant career was rated as a good career with a chance to travel to many countries. The image of flight attendance career can be ranked as follows: a career with a chance to travel, a career with ability to speak English, a career that requires punctuality, a career with a good service mind, and a career with an understanding of details. The findings from the in-depth interviews revealed that the major obstacles that prevented high school students from choosing a flight attendant as a career were their ability to speak English, their body proportions, and lack of information.

Keywords: flight attendant, high school students, image, media engineering

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Authors: Yong Eun Yoon, Eric N. Johnson, Liling Ren

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Multirotor is one of the most popular types of small unmanned aircraft systems and has already been used in many areas including transport, military, surveillance, and leisure. Together with its popularity, the needs for proper flight control is growing because in most applications it is required to conduct its missions autonomously, which is in many aspects based on autonomous flight control. There have been many studies about the flight control for multirotor, but there is still room for enhancements in terms of performance and efficiency. This paper presents an autonomous flight control method for multirotor based on alternative input output linearization coupled with nested saturations. With alternative choice of the output of the multirotor flight control system, we can reduce computational cost regarding Lie algebra, and the linearized system can be stabilized with the introduction of nested saturations with real poles of our own design. Stabilization of internal dynamics is also based on the nested saturations and accompanies the determination of part of desired states. In particular, outer control loops involving state variables which originally are not included in the output of the flight control system is naturally rendered through this internal dynamics stabilization. We can also observe that desired tilting angles are determined by error dynamics from outer loops. Simulation results show that in any tracking situations multirotor stabilizes itself with small time constants, preceded by tuning process for control parameters with relatively low degree of complexity. Future study includes control of piecewise linear behavior of multirotor with actuator saturations, and the optimal determination of desired states while tracking multiple waypoints.

Keywords: automatic flight control, input output linearization, multirotor, nested saturations

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Authors: Mohammed Sulaiman, Hexu Liu, Mohamed Binalhaj, William W. Liou, Osama Abudayyeh

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Emerging technologies such as camera-equipped unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly being applied in building fire rescue to provide real-time visualization and 3D reconstruction of the entire fireground. However, flight planning of camera-equipped UAVs is usually a manual process, which is not sufficient to fulfill the needs of emergency management. This research proposes a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach to automatic flight planning of camera-equipped UAVs for building fire emergency response. In this research, Haversine formula and lawn mowing patterns are employed to automate flight planning based on geometrical and spatial information from GIS. The resulting flight mission satisfies the requirements of 3D reconstruction purposes of the fireground, in consideration of flight execution safety and visibility of camera frames. The proposed approach is implemented within a GIS environment through an application programming interface. A case study is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The result shows that flight mission can be generated in a timely manner for application to fire emergency response.

Keywords: GIS, camera-equipped UAVs, automatic flight planning, fire emergency response

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Authors: Mohd Izmir Bin Yamin, Thomas Arthur Ward

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Past aerodynamic studies of flapping wing flight have shown that it has increased aerodynamic performances compared to fixed wing steady flight. One of the dominant mechanisms that is responsible for causing this phenomenon is a leading edge vortex, generated by the flapping motion of a flexible wing. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to observe the aerodynamic profile of a flapping wing, by measuring the lift, drag and thrust. Analysis was done to explain how unsteady aerodynamics leads towards better power performances than a fixed wing flight. The information from this study can be used as a base line for designing future Bio-mimetic Micro Air Vehicles that are based on flying insect aerodynamic mechanisms.

Keywords: flapping wing flight, leading edge vortex, aerodynamics performances, wind tunnel test

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Authors: Ferit Çakıcı, M. Kemal Leblebicioğlu

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In this study, characteristics and flight test analysis of a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with hover capability is analyzed. The base platform is chosen as a conventional airplane with throttle, ailerons, elevator and rudder control surfaces, that inherently allows level flight. Then this aircraft is mechanically modified by the integration of vertical propellers as in multi rotors in order to provide hover capability. The aircraft is modeled using basic aerodynamical principles and linear models are constructed utilizing small perturbation theory for trim conditions. Flight characteristics are analyzed by benefiting from linear control theory’s state space approach. Distinctive features of the aircraft are discussed based on analysis results with comparison to conventional aircraft platform types. A hybrid control system is proposed in order to reveal unique flight characteristics. The main approach includes design of different controllers for different modes of operation and a hand-over logic that makes flight in an enlarged flight envelope viable. Simulation tests are performed on mathematical models that verify asserted algorithms. Flight tests conducted in real world revealed the applicability of the proposed methods in exploiting fixed-wing and rotary wing characteristics of the aircraft, which provide agility, survivability and functionality.

Keywords: flight test, flight characteristics, hybrid aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle

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Authors: Othman Maklouf, Matouk Elamari, M. Rgeai, Fateh Alej

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In modern avionics the main fundamental component is the flight management system (FMS). An FMS is a specialized computer system that automates a wide variety of in-flight tasks, reducing the workload on the flight crew to the point that modern civilian aircraft no longer carry flight engineers or navigators. The main function of the FMS is in-flight management of the flight plan using various sensors such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) to determine the aircraft's position and guide the aircraft along the flight plan. GPS which is satellite based navigation system, and INS which generally consists of inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes). GPS is used to locate positions anywhere on earth, it consists of satellites, control stations, and receivers. GPS receivers take information transmitted from the satellites and uses triangulation to calculate a user’s exact location. The basic principle of an INS is based on the integration of accelerations observed by the accelerometers on board the moving platform, the system will accomplish this task through appropriate processing of the data obtained from the specific force and angular velocity measurements. Thus, an appropriately initialized inertial navigation system is capable of continuous determination of vehicle position, velocity and attitude without the use of the external information. The main objective of article is to introduce a comparative study between the two systems under different conditions and scenarios using MATLAB with SIMULINK software.

Keywords: flight management system, GPS, IMU, inertial navigation system

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Authors: Thanh Nga Thai

Abstract:

A major issue in air transportation is in flight safety. Recent developments in control engineering have an attractive potential for resolving new issues related to guidance, navigation, and control of flying vehicles. Many future atmospheric missions will require increased on board autonomy including fault diagnosis and the subsequent control and guidance recovery actions. To improve designing system diagnostic, an efficient FDI- fault detection and identification- methodology is necessary to achieve. Contribute to characteristic of different faults in sensor and actuator in the view of mathematics brings a lot of profit in some condition changes in the system. This research finds some profit to reduce a trade-off to achieve between fault detection and performance of the closed loop system and cost and calculated in simulation.

Keywords: fault detection and identification, sensor faults, actuator faults, flight control system

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Authors: Vivek Paul, Abel Nelly, Shoeb A Adeel, R. Tilak, S. Maheshwaran, S. Pulikeshi, Roshan Antony, C. S. Suraj

Abstract:

This paper presents the complete design and development cycle of a 20 cm span fixed wing micro air vehicle that was developed at CSIR-NAL, under the micro air vehicle development program. The design is a cropped delta flying wing MAV with a modified N22 airfoil of 12.3% thickness. The design was fabricated using the fused deposition method- RPT technique. COTS components were procured and integrated into this RPT prototype. A commercial autopilot that was proven in the earlier MAV designs was used for this MAV. The MAV was flown fully autonomous for 14mins at an open field. The flight data showed good performance as expected from the MAV design. The paper also describes about the process involved in the design of MAVs.

Keywords: autopilot, autonomous mode, flight testing, MAV, RPT

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Authors: Man Chul Jeong, Hyoung Jin Lee, Sang Yoon Lee, Ji Hyun Park, Min Wook Chang, In-Seuck Jeung

Abstract:

This study focus on the drag reduction effect of the base bleed at supersonic flow. Base bleed is the method which bleeds the gas on the tail of the flight vehicle and reduces the base drag, which occupies over 50% of the total drag in any flight speed. Thus base bleed can reduce the total drag significantly, and enhance the total flight range. Drag reduction ratio of the base bleed is strongly related to the mass flow rate of the bleeding gas. Thus selecting appropriate mass flow rate is important. However, since the flight vehicle has various flight speed, same mass flow rate of the base bleed can have different drag reduction effect during the flight. Thus, this study investigates the effect of the drag reduction depending on the flight speed by numerical analysis using STAR-CCM+. The analysis model is 155mm diameter projectile with boat-tailed shape base. Angle of the boat-tail is chosen previously for minimum drag coefficient. Numerical analysis is conducted for Mach 2 and Mach 3, with various mass flow rate, or the injection parameter I, of the bleeding gas and the temperature of the bleeding gas, is fixed to 300K. The results showed that I=0.025 has the minimum drag at Mach 2, and I=0.014 has the minimum drag at Mach 3. Thus as the Mach number is higher, the lower mass flow rate of the base bleed has more effect on drag reduction.

Keywords: base bleed, supersonic, drag reduction, recirculation

Procedia PDF Downloads 390