Design and Verification of Short-Distance Landing Control System for a One-Third-Scale Unmanned Supersonic Experimental Airplane

Abstract

The Aerospace Plane Research Center at the Muroran Institute of Technology is currently conducting research to develop enabling technologies for high-speed aircraft traveling at high altitudes and constructing experimental, small-scale, unmanned supersonic aircraft called Oowashi as a testbed for flight. To confirm the control performance of the aircraft, an experiment using a one-third-scale model of the Oowashi aircraft has been planned. The flight of high-speed aircraft always presents the problem of having to land on an ordinary runway regardless of the aircraft’s high speed at the beginning of the landing process. This paper therefore proposes a new landing control design method that can shorten the landing distance for a high-speed aircraft without increasing the rate of descent. The design method utilizes the newly clarified relationship between an angle of attack and the time constant of flare control system, which is effective to raise glideslope angle during landing. The validity of the method is confirmed by computer simulation assuming the model aircraft equivalent to a one-third-scale model of the Oowashi aircraft.