Helicopter Formation Control Algorithm for Manned-Unmanned Teaming

Abstract

Manned-Unmanned Teaming creates opportunities to increase mission performance of close formation flight for military and civil uses. Currently, the close flight of two helicopters, one manned aircraft and one unmanned aircraft system (UAS), within a shared airspace organized as a mixed formation creates high pilot workload due to maintaining the formation and avoiding collisions at the same time. The work presented in this paper approaches this high workload and safety problem and introduces two different strategies implemented as controllers to automate the UAS for the formation flight. In addition to flight results, this paper presents the design and implementation of the formation strategies and highlights the process within a simulation framework of their development, tuning, and testing. The simulation framework also facilitated finding of suitable safety constraints for the formation controllers and the flight test. One developed strategy, the so called Corridor Mode, reduces crew workload, increases flight safety, and enabled the coupling of a manned and an unmanned helicopter in a close formation during a real flight test campaign.