Search results for: Flight stability

Authors: Niloufar Ghoreishi, Ali Nekouzadeh

Abstract:

The stability of the flight during maneuvering and in response to probable perturbations is one of the most essential features of an aircraft that should be analyzed and designed for. In this study, we derived the non-linear governing equations of aircraft dynamics during the climb/descend phase and simulated a model aircraft. The corresponding force and moment dimensionless coefficients of the model and their variations with elevator angle and other relevant aerodynamic parameters were measured experimentally. The short-period mode and phugoid mode response were simulated by solving the governing equations numerically and then compared with the desired stability parameters for the particular level, category, and class of the aircraft model. To meet the target stability, a controller was designed and used. This resulted in significant improvement in the stability parameters of the flight.

Keywords: Flight stability, phugoid mode, short period mode, climb phase, damping coefficient.

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Authors: Jung-hoon Lee, Eung Tai Kim, Byung-hee Chang, In-hee Hwang, Dae-sung Lee

Abstract:

The accuracy of estimated stability and control derivatives of a light aircraft from flight test data were evaluated. The light aircraft, named ChangGong-91, is the first certified aircraft from the Korean government. The output error method, which is a maximum likelihood estimation technique and considers measurement noise only, was used to analyze the aircraft responses measures. The multi-step control inputs were applied in order to excite the short period mode for the longitudinal and Dutch-roll mode for the lateral-directional motion. The estimated stability/control derivatives of Chan Gong-91 were analyzed for the assessment of handling qualities comparing them with those of similar aircraft. The accuracy of the flight derivative estimates derived from flight test measurement was examined in engineering judgment, scatter and Cramer-Rao bound, which turned out to be satisfactory with minor defects..

Keywords: Light Aircraft, Flight Test, Accuracy, Engineering Judgment, Scatter, Cramer-Rao Bound

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Authors: Adil Loya, Kamran Maqsood, Muhammad Duraid

Abstract:

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: A. Ghodbane, M. Saad, J.-F. Boland, C. Thibeault

Abstract:

Historically, actuators’ redundancy was used to deal with faults occurring suddenly in flight systems. This technique was generally expensive, time consuming and involves increased weight and space in the system. Therefore, nowadays, the on-line fault diagnosis of actuators and accommodation plays a major role in the design of avionic systems. These approaches, known as Fault Tolerant Flight Control systems (FTFCs) are able to adapt to such sudden faults while keeping avionics systems lighter and less expensive. In this paper, a (FTFC) system based on the Geometric Approach and a Reconfigurable Flight Control (RFC) are presented. The Geometric approach is used for cosmic ray fault reconstruction, while Sliding Mode Control (SMC) based on Lyapunov stability theory is designed for the reconfiguration of the controller in order to compensate the fault effect. Matlab®/Simulink® simulations are performed to illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed flight control system against actuators’ faulty signal caused by cosmic rays. The results demonstrate the successful real-time implementation of the proposed FTFC system on a non-linear 6 DOF aircraft model.

Keywords: Actuators’ faults, Fault detection and diagnosis, Fault tolerant flight control, Sliding mode control, Geometric approach for fault reconstruction, Lyapunov stability.

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Authors: T. Sanches, K. Bousson

Abstract:

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 and stability.

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Authors: S. Swain, P. S. Khuntia

Abstract:

In this paper an optimal convex controller is designed to control the angle of attack of a FOXTROT aircraft. Then the order of the system model is reduced to a low-dimensional state space by using Balanced Truncation Model Reduction Technique and finally the robust stability of the reduced model of the system is tested graphically by using Kharitonov rectangle and Zero Exclusion Principle for a particular range of perturbation value. The same robust stability is tested theoretically by using Frequency Sweeping Function for robust stability.

Keywords: Convex Optimization, Kharitonov Stability Criterion, Model Reduction, Robust Stability.

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Authors: A. Badarudin, C. S. Oon, S. N. Kazi, N. Nik-Ghazali, Y. J. Lee, W. T. Chong

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An experimental and simulation flight test has been carried out to evaluate the longitudinal gliding characteristics of a lifting body with blunted half-cone geometry. The novelty here is the lifting body's pitch control mechanism, which consists of a pair of leading-edge rotating cylinders. Flight simulation uses aerodynamic data from computational fluid dynamics supported by wind-tunnel test. Flight test consists of releasing an aluminum lifting body model from a moving vehicle at the appropriate wind speed while measuring the lifting body's variation of altitude against time of flight. Results show that leading-edge rotating cylinder is able to give small amounts of improvement to the longitudinal stability and pitch control to the lifting body.

Keywords: Lifting body, pitch control, aerodynamic, rotating cylinder.

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

Abstract:

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, FDM, flight safety.

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Authors: Pavel Zikmund, Robert Popela

Abstract:

Extreme formation is a theoretical concept of selfsustain flight when a big airliner is followed by a small UAV glider flying in the airliner wake vortex. The paper presents results of a climb analysis with the goal to lift the gliding UAV to airliners cruise altitude. Wake vortex models, the UAV drag polar and basic parameters and airliner’s climb profile are introduced at first. Afterwards, flight performance of the UAV in a wake vortex is evaluated by analytical methods. Time history of optimal distance between an airliner and the UAV during a 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: Mohd Zahari, M. S, Salleh, N. K., Kamaruddin, M. S. Y, Kutut, M. Z.

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Service quality has become a centerpiece for airline companies in vying with one another and keeps their image in the minds of passengers. Many airlines have pushed service quality through service personalization which includes both ground and on board especially from the viewpoint of retaining satisfied passengers and attracting new ones. Besides those, in-flight meals/food service is another important aspect of the airline operation. The in flight meals/food services now are seen as part of marketing strategies in attracting business or leisure travelers. This study reports the outcomes of the investigation on in-flight meals/food attributes toward passengers- level of satisfaction and re-flying intention. Taste, freshness, appearance of in-flight meals/food served and menu choices are important to the airlines passengers especially for the long haul flight. Food not only contributes to the prediction of the airline passengers- levels of satisfaction but besides other factors slightly influence passengers- re- flying intention. Airline companies therefore should not ignore this element but take the opportunity to create more attractive and acceptable in-flight meals/food along with other matter as marketing tools in attracting passengers to re-flying with them.

Keywords: In-flight meal, passengers, satisfaction, re-flying and intention

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Authors: C. Edwards, P. Parker

Abstract:

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: Othman Maklouf, Abdurazag Ghila, Saleh Gashoot, Ahmed Abdulla

Abstract:

Flight management system (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 aircraft no longer carry flight engineers or navigators. The primary function of FMS is to perform the in-flight management of the flight plan using various sensors (such as GPS and INS often backed up by radio navigation) to determine the aircraft's position. From the cockpit FMS is normally controlled through a Control Display Unit (CDU) which incorporates a small screen and keyboard or touch screen. This paper investigates the performance of GPS/ INS integration techniques in which the data fusion process is done using Kalman filtering. This will include the importance of sensors calibration as well as the alignment of the strap down inertial navigation system. The limitations of the inertial navigation systems are investigated in order to understand why INS sometimes is integrated with other navigation aids and not just operating in standalone mode. Finally, both the loosely coupled and tightly coupled configurations are analyzed for several types of situations and operational conditions.

Keywords: GPS, INS, Kalman Filter.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Andrus Pedai

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the control of autonomous vertical flight for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Autonomous vertical flight is a challenging but important task for tactical UAVs to achieve high level of autonomy under adverse conditions. With the SA strategy, we proposed a two stage flight control procedure using two autonomous control subsystems to address the dynamics variation and performance requirement difference in initial and final stages of flight trajectory for a nontrivial nonlinear trirotor mini-UAV model. This control strategy for chosen mini-UAV model has been verified by simulation of hovering maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast SA in realtime search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Flight control, trirotor aircraft, situational awareness, unmanned aerial vehicle.

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Authors: Hongbin Gu, Dongsu Wu, Hui Liu

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A novel low-cost flight simulator with the development goals cost effectiveness and high performance has been realized for meeting the huge pilot training needs of airlines. The simulator consists of an aircraft dynamics model, a sophisticated designed low-profile electrical driven motion system with a subsided cabin, a mixed reality based semi-virtual cockpit system, a control loading system and some other subsystems. It shows its advantages over traditional flight simulator by its features achieved with open architecture, software solutions and low-cost hardware.

Keywords: Flight simulator, mixed reality, motion system, control loading system.

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Authors: Yao Jie, Yeo Khoon Seng

Abstract:

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, flapping-wing flight.

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Authors: Zaouche Mohamed, Amini Mohamed, Foughali Khaled, Aitkaid Souhila, Bouchiha Nihad Sarah

Abstract:

The aerodynamic coefficients are important in the evaluation of an aircraft performance and stability-control characteristics. These coefficients also can be used in the automatic flight control systems and mathematical model of flight simulator. The study of the aerodynamic aspect of flying systems is a reserved domain and inaccessible for the developers. Doing tests in a wind tunnel to extract aerodynamic forces and moments requires a specific and expensive means. Besides, the glaring lack of published documentation in this field of study makes the aerodynamic coefficients determination complicated. This work is devoted to the identification of an aerodynamic model, by using an aircraft in virtual simulated environment. We deal with the identification of the system, we present an environment framework based on Software In the Loop (SIL) methodology and we use Microsoft^TM Flight Simulator (FS-2004) as the environment for plane simulation. We propose The Total Least Squares Estimation technique (TLSE) to identify the aerodynamic parameters, which are unknown, variable, classified and used in the expression of the piloting law. In this paper, we define each aerodynamic coefficient as the mean of its numerical values. All other variations are considered as modeling uncertainties that will be compensated by the robustness of the piloting control.

Keywords: Aircraft aerodynamic model, Microsoft flight simulator, MQ-1 Predator, total least squares estimation, piloting the aircraft.

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Authors: De Lellis E., Di Vito V., Garbarino L., Lai C., Corraro F.

Abstract:

This paper describes the design process and the realtime validation of an innovative autonomous mid-air flight and landing system developed by the Italian Aerospace Research Center in the framework of the Italian national funded project TECVOL (Technologies for the Autonomous Flight). In the paper it is provided an insight of the whole development process of the system under study. In particular, the project framework is illustrated at first, then the functional context and the adopted design and testing approach are described, and finally the on-ground validation test rig on purpose designed is addressed in details. Furthermore, the hardwarein- the-loop validation of the autonomous mid-air flight and landing system by means of the real-time test rig is described and discussed.

Keywords: Autonomous landing, autonomous mid-air flight, design and test approach, real-time hardware-in-the-loop validation

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Authors: Chia-Hung Chen, Shangyao Yan

Abstract:

The solution algorithm, based on Lagrangian relaxation, a sub-gradient method and a heuristic to find the upper bound of the solution, is proposed to solve the coordinated fleet routing and flight scheduling problems. Numerical tests are performed to evaluate the proposed algorithm using real operating data from two Taiwan airlines. The test results indicate that the solution algorithm is a significant improvement over those obtained with CPLEX, consequently they could be useful for allied airlines to solve coordinated fleet routing and flight scheduling problems.

Keywords: Coordinated flight scheduling, multiple commodity network flow problem, Lagrangian relaxation.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Mikhail Pikkov, Rein Paluoja

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the control of autonomous vertical flight for vectored thrust aerial vehicle (VTAV). With the SA strategy, we proposed a linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) flight control procedure for an unmanned helicopter model with vectored thrust configuration. This LQG control for chosen model of VTAV has been verified by simulation of take-off and landing maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast flight stabilization of model, consequently, fast SA with economy in energy can be asserted during search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) controller, situational awareness, vectored thrust aerial vehicle.

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Authors: Mansoor Ahsan, Khalid Rafique, Farrukh Mazhar

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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have gained tremendous importance, in both Military and Civil, during first decade of this century. In a UAV, onboard computer (autopilot) autonomously controls the flight and navigation of the aircraft. Based on the aircraft role and flight envelope, basic to complex and sophisticated controllers are used to stabilize the aircraft flight parameters. These controllers constitute the autopilot system for UAVs. The autopilot systems, most commonly, provide lateral and longitudinal control through Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers or Phase-lead or Lag Compensators. Various techniques are commonly used to ‘tune’ gains of these controllers. Some techniques used are, in-flight step-by-step tuning, software-in-loop or hardware-in-loop tuning methods. Subsequently, numerous in-flight tests are required to actually ‘fine-tune’ these gains. However, an optimization-based tuning of these PID controllers or compensators, as presented in this paper, can greatly minimize the requirement of in-flight ‘tuning’ and substantially reduce the risks and cost involved in flight-testing.

Keywords: Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), autopilot, autonomous controls, PID controler gains tuning, optimization.

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Authors: Qiaozhen Song

Abstract:

Based on the feature of model disturbances and uncertainty being compensated dynamically in auto – disturbances-rejection-controller (ADRC), a new method using ADRC is proposed for the decoupling control of dispenser longitudinal movement in big flight envelope. Developed from nonlinear model directly, ADRC is especially suitable for dynamic model that has big disturbances. Furthermore, without changing the structure and parameters of the controller in big flight envelope, this scheme can simplify the design of flight control system. The simulation results in big flight envelope show that the system achieves high dynamic performance, steady state performance and the controller has strong robustness.

Keywords: ADRC, ESO, nonlinear system

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Authors: Nikhil Ramaswamy, S.N.Omkar, Kashyap.H.Nathwani, Anil.M.Vanjare

Abstract:

In this present work, the development of an avionics system for flight data collection of a Raptor 30 V2 is carried out. For the data acquisition both onground and onboard avionics systems are developed for testing of a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) helicopter. The onboard avionics record the helicopter state outputs namely accelerations, angular rates and Euler angles, in real time, and the on ground avionics system record the inputs given to the radio controlled helicopter through a transmitter, in real time. The avionic systems are designed and developed taking into consideration low weight, small size, anti-vibration, low power consumption, and easy interfacing. To mitigate the medium frequency vibrations embedded on the UAV helicopter during flight, a damper is designed and its performance is evaluated. A number of flight tests are carried out and the data obtained is then analyzed for accuracy and repeatability and conclusions are inferred.

Keywords: Data collection, Flight Testing, Onground and Onboard Avionics, UAV helicopter

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Authors: Ambuj Srivastava, Narender Singh

Abstract:

This paper presents the effect of installation of cylindrical external store on the performance, stability, control and handling qualities of light transport category aircraft. A pair of long cylindrical store was installed symmetrically on either side of the fuselage (port and starboard) ahead of the wing and below the fuselage bottom surface running below pilot and co-pilot window. The cylindrical store was installed as hanging from aircraft surface through specially designed brackets. The adjoining structure was sufficiently reinforced for bearing aerodynamic loads. The length to diameter ratio of long cylindrical store was ~20. Based on academic studies and flow simulation analysis, a considerable detrimental effect on single engine second segment climb performance was found which was later validated through extensive flight testing exercise. The methodology of progressive flight envelope opening was adopted. The certification was sought from Regional airworthiness authorities and for according approval.

Keywords: Second segment climb, maximum operating speed, cruise performance, single engine and twin engine, minimum control speed, and additional trim required.

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Authors: S. Di Benedetto, M. P. Di Donato, A. Rispoli, S. Cardone, J. Riehmer, J. Steelant, L. Vecchione

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Thanks to a coordinated funding by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission (EC) within the 7th framework program, the High-Speed Experimental Fly Vehicles – International (HEXAFLY-INT) project is aimed at the flight validation of hypersonics technologies enabling future trans-atmospheric flights. The project, which is currently involving partners from Europe, Russian Federation and Australia operating under ESA/ESTEC coordination, will achieve the goal of designing, manufacturing, assembling and flight testing an unpowered high speed vehicle in a glider configuration by 2018. The main technical challenges of the project are specifically related to the design of the vehicle gliding configuration and to the complexity of integrating breakthrough technologies with standard aeronautical technologies, e.g. high temperature protection system and airframe cold structures. Also, the sonic boom impact, which is one of the environmental challenges of the high speed flight, will be assessed. This paper provides a comprehensive and detailed update on all the current projects activities carried out to date on both the vehicle and mission design.

Keywords: Design, flight testing, hypersonics, integration.

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Andrus Pedai

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the control of autonomous vertical flight for tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (TUAV). With the SA strategy, we proposed a two stage flight control procedure using two autonomous control subsystems to address the dynamics variation and performance requirement difference in initial and final stages of flight trajectory for a nontrivial nonlinear eight-rotor helicopter model. This control strategy for chosen model of mini-TUAV has been verified by simulation of hovering maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast stabilization of engines in hovering, consequently, fast SA with economy in energy of batteries can be asserted during search-andrescue operations.

Keywords: Flight control, eight-rotor helicopter, situational awareness, tactical unmanned aerial vehicle

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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: Wu Di, Yeo Khoon Seng, Lim Tee Tai

Abstract:

The typical insects employ a flapping-wing mode of flight. The numerical simulations on free flight of a model fruit fly (Re=143) including hovering and are presented in this paper. Unsteady aerodynamics around a flapping insect is studied by solving the three-dimensional Newtonian dynamics of the flyer coupled with Navier-Stokes equations. A hybrid-grid scheme (Generalized Finite Difference Method) that combines great geometry flexibility and accuracy of moving boundary definition is employed for obtaining flow dynamics. The results show good points of agreement and consistency with the outcomes and analyses of other researchers, which validate the computational model and demonstrate the feasibility of this computational approach on analyzing fluid phenomena in insect flight. The present modeling approach also offers a promising route of investigation that could complement as well as overcome some of the limitations of physical experiments in the study of free flight aerodynamics of insects. The results are potentially useful for the design of biomimetic flapping-wing flyers.

Keywords: Free hovering flight, flapping wings, fruit fly, insect aerodynamics, leading edge vortex (LEV), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Navier-Stokes equations (N-S), fluid structure interaction (FSI), generalized finite-difference method (GFD).

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Authors: Igor Astrov, Mikhail Pikkov, Rein Paluoja

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the control of autonomous vertical flight for vectored thrust aerial vehicle (VTAV). With the SA strategy, we proposed a flight control procedure to address the dynamics variation and performance requirement difference of flight trajectory for an unmanned helicopter model with vectored thrust configuration. This control strategy for chosen model of VTAV has been verified by simulation of take-off and forward maneuvers using software package Simulink and demonstrated good performance for fast stabilization of motors, consequently, fast SA with economy in energy can be asserted during search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Neural network predictive controller, situational awareness, vectored thrust aerial vehicle.

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Authors: Zhang Jun-Tao, Hou Zhong-xi, Guo Zheng, Chen Li-li

Abstract:

This article discusses stress analysis and the shape characteristics of the inflatable wing, and then introduces the design method of inflatable wing, in order to accurately approximate a standard airfoil. It specifically analyses the aerodynamic characteristics of the inflatable wing with the method of CFD, along with comparing to standard airfoil, afterwards we carries out the manufacture of inflatable wing and the flight test.

Keywords: Inflatable wing, Stress analysis, Aerodynamic characteristics, Flight test

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Authors: Kazuya Sato, Toru Kasahara, Junji Kuroda, Tomoyuki Izu

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In this paper, an autonomous hovering control method of multicopter using only Web camera is proposed. Recently, various control method of an autonomous flight for multicopter are proposed. But, in the previous proposed methods, a motion capture system (i. e., OptiTrack) and laser range finder are often used to measure the position and posture of multicopter. To achieve an autonomous flight control of multicopter with simple equipments, we propose an autonomous flight control method using AR marker and Web camera. AR marker can measure the position of multicopter with Cartesian coordinate in three dimensional, then its position connects with aileron, elevator, and accelerator throttle operation. A simple PID control method is applied to the each operation and adjust the controller gains. Experimental results are given to show the effectiveness of our proposed method. Moreover, another simple operation method for autonomous flight control multicopter is also proposed.

Keywords: Autonomous hovering control, multicopter, Web camera.

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