Inflight Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation for Fixed Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Main Article Content

R. Jaganraj
R. Velu

Abstract

This paper presents the frame work for aerodynamic parameter estimation for small fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The recent development in autopilot hardware for small UAV enables the in-flight data collection of flight characteristics. A methodology is outlined to collect, process and arrive at a conclusion from the in-flight data using commercial flight controller of under 2kg (micro) fixed wing aircraft, ‘VAF01’ for which a Fault Detection and Identification (FDI) system is under development. As a part of the FDI, the linear longitudinal (3 DOF) aerodynamic model is developed and in-flight experimental data is used to estimate the longitudinal aerodynamic parameters. The Flight Path Reconstruction is completed with the acquired parameters from in-flight experiments and results are discussed for further utilization of them.

Article Details

Section
Articles