Design and Evaluation of a Damage-Tolerant Flight Control System

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

Suk

et al. 2018

This paper investigates experimental evaluation via flight tests for applying adaptive neural network controller to a flying-wing type unmanned aerial vehicle experiencing partial wing-loss. For this, six-degree-of-freedom numerical model is constructed taking into account damage-induced changes to the unmanned aerial vehicle in aerodynamic coefficients, mass, center of gravity, and moments of inertia. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the flight dynamics change and to verify the performance of the neural network based controller. During the flight test, main wing-loss is artificially generated by 22% or 33% area moment. The flight test verifies that the damaged unmanned aerial vehicle shows drastic roll behavior with the unstable longitudinal response, and the neural network based adaptive controller combined with feedback linearization successfully compensates for the wing damage.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flight test of flying-wing type unmanned aerial vehicle with partial wing-loss

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

Suk

et al. 2018

“…Therefore, understanding the effects of the aircraft's damage on the flight dynamic characteristics is crucial for designing a damage-tolerant control system. 10,11 Nguyen et al 12,13 constructed a six degree-of-freedom model that depicts the conventional transport aircraft with a damaged wing. They also designed the adaptive flight control system for this damaged aircraft model using neural network.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of partial wing damage on flying-wing unmanned air vehicle

Ahn

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

et al. 2013

This article investigates the effect of asymmetric wing damage on flight dynamic characteristics of a flying-wing single motor unmanned air vehicle. To construct a six degree-of-freedom model of the damaged aircraft, a flying-wing type unmanned aerial vehicle is designed, and the wind tunnel test for damaged configurations is performed to identify the change of aerodynamic coefficients. The changes of mass, center of gravity, and moment of inertia are also calculated for each damage configuration with CATIA. The changed trim states are calculated depending on the severity of damage, and the movements of poles in longitudinal/lateral-directional flight modes are examined to evaluate the change of the dynamic stability and performance. Numerical simulations and eigenvalue analyses are performed to investigate the altered flight dynamics. It is verified that an asymmetrically wing-damaged unmanned air vehicle shows a sluggish roll behavior with longitudinal instability, and the result of this study can be a cornerstone for the future research on reconfigurable flight controller design against aircraft damage.

International Journal of Aerospace Engineering

“…Shtessel et al [6] propose reconfigurable sliding mode control with direct adaptation. Hess et al [7] use sliding mode control with asymptotic observers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flight Control Design for a Tailless Aircraft Using Eigenstructure Assignment

Nieto-Wire

Sobel

2011

We apply eigenstructure assignment to the design of a flight control system for a wind tunnel model of a tailless aircraft. The aircraft, known as the innovative control effectors (ICEs) aircraft, has unconventional control surfaces plus pitch and yaw thrust vectoring. We linearize the aircraft in straight and level flight at an altitude of 15,000 feet and Mach number 0.4. Then, we separately design flight control systems for the longitudinal and lateral dynamics. We use a control allocation scheme with weights so that the lateral pseudoinputs are yaw and roll moment, and the longitudinal pseudoinput is pitching moment. In contrast to previous eigenstructure assignment designs for the ICE aircraft, we consider the phugoid mode, thrust vectoring, and stability margins. We show how to simultaneously stabilize the phugoid mode, satisfy MIL-F-8785C mode specifications, and satisfy MIL-F-9490D phase and gain margin specifications. We also use a cstar command system that is preferable to earlier pitch-rate command systems. Finally, we present simulation results of the combined longitudinal/lateral flight control system using a full 6DOF nonlinear simulation with approximately 20,000 values for the aerodynamic coefficients. Our simulation includes limiters on actuator deflections, deflection rates, and control system integrators.