Expanding Airstar capability for flight research in an existing avionics design

Laughter, Sean A.

doi:10.1109/dasc.2012.6382438

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…COTS autopilot systems for UAV, such as the Cloud Cap Piccolo series [157], have also been used for data logging in several projects. The gap between these two levels was filled with a variety of custom-made data acquisition solutions, most of which were based on the integration of custom and COTS sensors of different types but resulting in similar architectures [44,56,69,95,138,139,158,159]. The need for an intermediate-level system, specifically adapted to the SFT needs, has motivated the recent appearance of a few specialised COTS solutions such as the Al Volo FDAQ [45].…”

Section: Specific Data Acquisition Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Current Research in Subscale Flight Testing and Analysis of Its Main Practical Challenges

2021

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Testing of untethered subscale models, often referred to as subscale flight testing, has traditionally had a relatively minor, yet relevant use in aeronautical research and development. As recent advances in electronics, rapid prototyping and unmanned-vehicle technologies expand its capabilities and lower its cost, this experimental method is seeing growing interest across academia and the industry. However, subscale models cannot meet all similarity conditions required for simulating full-scale flight. This leads to a variety of approaches to scaling and to other alternative applications. Through a literature review and analysis of different scaling strategies, this study presents an overall picture of how subscale flight testing has been used in recent years and synthesises its main issues and practical limitations. Results show that, while the estimation of full-scale characteristics is still an interesting application within certain flight conditions, subscale models are progressively taking a broader role as low-cost technology-testing platforms with relaxed similarity constraints. Different approaches to tackle the identified practical challenges, implemented both by the authors and by other organisations, are discussed and evaluated through flight experiments.

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Section: Specific Data Acquisition Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Current Research in Subscale Flight Testing and Analysis of Its Main Practical Challenges

2021

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“…COTS autopilot systems for UAV, such as the Cloud Cap Piccolo series [126], have also been used for data logging in several projects. The gap between these two levels was filled with a variety of custom-made data acquisition solutions, most of which were based on the integration of custom and COTS sensors of different types but resulting in similar architectures [127,128,129,130,131,132,123]. A similar attempt to develop a data acquisition system for SFT was made at Linköping University in 2008 using a Diamond Systems PC board Athena with a Pentium-III-class processor running a streamlined Linux kernel as operating system [38].…”

Section: Development Of Flight Test Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

On subscale flight testing : Cost-effective techniques for research and development

Rueda

2021

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Dissertations

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“…As illustrated by Table 1, capabilities were added up until Phase-IV [3], at which point an exhaustive flight schedule was undertaken to utilize the system for more than fifty research flights.…”

Section: Airstar History and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

AirSTAR hardware and software design for beyond visual range flight research

Laughter

Cox

2016

2016 IEEE/AIAA 35th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is a facility developed to study the flight dynamics of vehicles in emergency conditions, in support of aviation safety research. The system was upgraded to have its operational range significantly expanded, going beyond the line of sight of a ground-based pilot. A redesign of the airborne flight hardware was undertaken, as well as significant changes to the software base, in order to provide appropriate autonomous behavior in response to a number of potential failures and hazards. Ground hardware and system monitors were also upgraded to include redundant communication links, including ADS-B based position displays and an independent flight termination system. The design included both custom and commercially available avionics, combined to allow flexibility in flight experiment design while still benefiting from tested configurations in reversionary flight modes. A similar hierarchy was employed in the software architecture, to allow research codes to be tested, with a fallback to more thoroughly validated flight controls. As a remotely piloted facility, ground systems were also developed to ensure the flight modes and system state were communicated to ground operations personnel in real-time. Presented in this paper is a general overview of the concept of operations for beyond visual range flight, and a detailed review of the airborne hardware and software design. This discussion is held in the context of the safety and procedural requirements that drove many of the design decisions for the AirSTAR UAS Beyond Visual Range capability.

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Expanding Airstar capability for flight research in an existing avionics design

Abstract: The NASA Airborne Subscale

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

A Review of Current Research in Subscale Flight Testing and Analysis of Its Main Practical Challenges

A Review of Current Research in Subscale Flight Testing and Analysis of Its Main Practical Challenges

On subscale flight testing : Cost-effective techniques for research and development

AirSTAR hardware and software design for beyond visual range flight research

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