Development Of Flight Control System Research Articles

Designing an Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Control Model for an Air-to-Ground Collaborative System

<div>In autonomous technology, uncrewed aircraft systems have already become the preferred platform for the research and development of flight control systems. Although they are subjected to following and satisfying complicated scenarios of control stations, this high dependency on a specific control framework limits them in their application process and reduces the flight self-organizing network. In this article, we present a developed multilayer control system protocol with the additional supportive manned aircraft layer (<i>Tender</i>). The novelty of the introduced model is that uncrewed aircraft systems are monitored and navigated by the tender, and then based on the suggested scheme, data flows are controlled and transferred across the network by the developed cloud–robotics approach in the ground station layer. Therefore, it has been tried to design a semi-autonomous control network to gather data that combines human observation and the automotive nature of uncrewed aircraft systems. To ensure the accuracy and correctness of the model, we simulate our approach in the software-in-the-loop using its web-based interface with new configurations in the hardware and software architecture of the network. Results will be examined by the in-order per message delay, which has recorded a considerably low latency in both the uplink and downlink data transmission processes. This optimization is achieved along with maintaining the quality of data.</div>

PPO-Based Attitude Controller Design for a Tilt Rotor UAV in Transition Process

The complex aerodynamic changes of the tilt-rotor UAV (TRUAV) in the transition process show strong nonlinearity, which brings a great impact on the stability of the vehicle attitude. This study aims to design a PPO-based RL controller for attitude control in the transition process. A reinforcement-learning PPO approach is used to learn the control strategy by interacting directly with the environment. And the reward function is designed and improved for the transition process. The performance of the proposed controller is tested and compared by simulation. The results show that the PPO algorithm is more suitable for the tilt-rotor transition process control than the A2C algorithm. Our proposed reward function improves the attitude control performance and the designed RL controller has good adaptability to changes in the takeoff weight, the diagonal wheelbase and the tilt rate. This study highlights the effectiveness and potential of reinforcement learning for tilt-rotor UAV transition process attitude control. These findings contribute to the advancement of autonomous flight systems by providing insights into the application of reinforcement learning algorithms. These results have important implications for the development of intelligent flight control systems and could guide future research in this area.

Improving the Size of the Propellers of the Parrot Mini-Drone and an Impact Study on its Flight Controller System

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are widely used in transportation, delivery, surveillance and surveillance applications. The development of stable, resilient, and accurate flight based on turbulence and turbulence will likely become a key feature in the development of unique flight control systems. In this research, we studied the control system of a small Parrot mini drone, the Mambo drone, which was designed using the MATLAB program, while we added turbulence to the drone by changing the weight of the original plane in the design, where we increased the weight and calculated the vertical projection area of the propellers of the plane several times until we got the best space for the propellers able to carry more extra weight. We imposed an increase in the drone's weight due to bad conditions that the plane experienced during its flight, such as snow or dust falling on it. In order to make the aircraft bear these weather conditions without falling and colliding, we calculated an appropriate increase in the area of the aircraft wing, and we actually applied it in the MATLAB-R2021a Simulink program, and we got good results using simulation as well as in real-time inside the laboratory, turbulence was added in the simulation program. The new design of the propellers demonstrated the aircraft's ability to carry an additional payload of approximately one-third of the aircraft's weight, as shown in the roads chapter. In future work, we propose to use this design on larger aircraft with fixed propellers and to study the effects of other weather conditions on UAVs, such as the effect of temperature, humidity, and others.

Self-Learning MAV Under Safety-Guaranteed Flight Test Environment

This paper presents a novel methodology for designing the flight control system of a micro aerial vehicle (MAV); it allows the MAV to learn how to fly by itself, without the risk of damage. The proposed methodology uses a magnetic levitation–based safety-guaranteed flight test environment and deep reinforcement learning techniques to avoid the current problems in flight control system design procedures, such as the reality gap issue of simulations, and the safety issues inherent to real flight testing. The safety-guaranteed flight test environment was achieved using a developed magnetic suspension and balance system, which dynamically adjusts magnetic forces interacting with a magnetically levitated MAV. As a result, the MAV can perform in either a free-flight condition for reinforcement learning or can be constrained for safety. This learning environment was developed to permit safe reinforcement learning of MAV, since trial-and-error-based learning typically makes the MAV unstable. In this regard, the MAV can learn to fly by itself based on trial and error, by interacting with the emulated free-flight test environment. Notably, the entire learning process can be conducted without numerical models for both the MAV itself and the flight environment, and the safety of the MAV is guaranteed, even when attempting undesirable actions that might cause the model to become unstable. By avoiding the modeling errors typical of computational simulations and preventing the risk of damage in real flight tests, this approach could enhance the use of reinforcement learning in the development of advanced flight control systems.

Impact of actuators backlash on the helicopter control during landing on the moving vessel deck

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the performance of the control system developed for the helicopter automatic approach and landing on the moving vessel deck, when different values of backlashes are applied to the four control actuators.Design/methodology/approachThe system consists of automatic control algorithm based on the linear quadratic regulator and the vessel motion prediction algorithm based on autoregressive method with parameters calculated using Burg’s method. Necessary navigation data is provided by on-board inertial navigation system/Global Positioning System. Calculated control commands are executed by four electromechanical actuators. Performance of the mission, which is based on selected procedure of approach and landing of the helicopter on the moving vessel deck, is analyzed taking into account different values of backlashes applied to the actuators.FindingsIn this paper, a description of the control system dedicated for automatic approach and landing of the helicopter on the moving vessel deck is shown. Necessary information about helicopter dynamic model, control system and vessel motion model is included. Tests showing influence of actuator backlashes on the mission performance are presented.Practical implicationsThe developed control methodology can be adapted for selected helicopter and used in prospective development of an automatic flight control system (AFCS) or in a simulator. The system can be used to define in which conditions helicopter can perform safe and successful automatic approach and landing on a moving vessel deck.Originality/valueIn this paper, an integrated control system is presented; influence of the control actuator backlashes on the mission performance is analyzed.

Deep Learning in Aircraft Design, Dynamics, and Control: Review and Prospects

In recent decades, deep learning (DL) has become a rapidly growing research direction, redefining the state-of-the-art performances in a wide range of techniques, such as object detection and speech recognition. In the aircraft design, dynamics, and control field, many works hinge on the information-rich data-driven approach, which includes the fusion-based prognostic and health management, the airliner's flight safety monitoring, intelligent sensing, and flight control systems development. While DL provides great potentials to solve these data-driven problems, a systematic review and discussion as to how the DL has been/can be used for these problems are still missing in relation to the rapidly developing and widely used DL techniques. In this article, we aim to address this urgent issue to provide a timely overview of the state-of-the-art for applying DL to the aircraft design, dynamics, and control field. In particular, we briefly introduce five representative DL methods, i.e., deep neural network, deep autoencoder, deep belief network, convolutional neural network, and recurrent neural network. Mathematical definitions for each method are presented, and illustrative applications are also discussed. We then review the existing DL-based works that have appeared in the aircraft design, dynamics, and control field. The review efforts are divided into two major groups, i.e., the own-ship aircraft modeling, wherein the works have been/can be implemented online for the aircraft design/dynamics/control, and other airplanes research works, wherein DL-based schemes provide offline monitoring of the aircraft operation. We then summarize the data sources and DL architectures. Referring to the experiences of DL research works/techniques development in other related fields, future opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions for implementing DL in the aircraft design, dynamics, and control field are also discussed.

Adaptive Learning-Based Observer With Dynamic Inversion for the Autonomous Flight of an Unmanned Helicopter

This article presents the development of an autonomous flight control system for a small-scale unmanned helicopter based on an online adaptive learning-based observer and model predictive control (MPC). The adaptive learning-based observer provides an approximate dynamic inversion for solving the coupled dynamic problem. The discrete-time MPC (DMPC) uses a prediction process to obtain a stable model. The Laguerre function, a state observer, and a recursive learning algorithm were integrated into DMPC, the core of the flight control system. Exponential data weighting was adopted to increase the stability of the designed flight control system. By integrating these approaches, an adaptive learning-based flight control system, which consists of the pitch, roll, yaw, and heave controllers, is presented to evaluate the stability and performance of the proposed autonomous flight control system of an unmanned helicopter. Moreover, an adaptive controller based on neural approximation for yaw motion is used to improve the performance of yawing control of the helicopter. In order to validate the feasibility of the proposed method, a hardware-in-the-loop simulation was performed in real time. The system included an embedded system, a self-developed users interface, and the X-plane flight simulator. The simulation results showed that the flight control system was able to maintain the position and the attitude of the helicopter in hover mode under the influence of wind gust and disturbance. The proposed method had better performance than a robust control system, in both ideal and disturbed environments.

Extending Model-Based Systems Engineering into Integrated Platform Designed for Civil Aircraft Develop

With the continuous development and application of modeling technology, civil aircraft designers urgently need to apply model-based systems engineering (MBSE) theory and methods into the field of civil aircraft development. However, the existing modeling tools, which combined with MBSE methodologies, only focus on one particular area, such as requirement modeling, functional modeling and design synthesis. This kind of low coupling design system makes it difficult to link the upstream and downstream designers in the early stage of system development. This paper introduces the MBSE development process of civil aircraft and then establishes an integrated platform composed of six work stations for civil aircraft development based on this process. Commercially available modeling tools, such as IBM Rational DOORS and enterprise architect (EA), are conducted in the platform. The development of flight control system is taken as an example to test the feasibility and efficiency of our integrated platform in logic layer. This platform can complete the activities of aircraft life cycle function analysis, requirement and model management. The loose coupling between the modules and the high cohesive nature allows different system engineers to maintain their design independence and consistency at different stages of development.

Mathematical Modelling of Gimballed Tilt-Rotors for Real-Time Flight Simulation

This paper introduces a novel gimballed rotor mathematical model for real-time flight simulation of tilt-rotor aircraft and other vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) concepts, which improves the previous version of a multi-purpose rotor mathematical model developed by ZHAW and Politecnico di Torino as part of a comprehensive flight simulation model of a tilt-rotor aircraft currently implemented in the Research and Didactics Simulator of ZHAW and used for research activities such as handling qualities studies and flight control systems development. In the novel model, a new formulation of the flapping dynamics is indroduced to account for the gimballed rotor and better suit current tilt-rotor designs (XV-15, V-22, AW-609). This paper describes the mathematical model and provides a generic formulation as well as a specific one for 3-blades proprotors. The method expresses the gimbal attitude but also considers the variation of each blade’s flapping due to the elasticity of the blades, so that the rotor coning angle can be represented. A validation of the mathematical model is performed against the available literature on the XV-15 Tilt-rotor aircraft and a comparison between the previous model is provided to show the improvements achieved. The results show a good correlation between the model and the reference data and the registered performance allow real-time flight simulation with pilot and hardware in the loop.

Functional hazards assessment of an integrated flight control system validation using model-based design

Functional Hazard Assessment is the beginning of the work on the system safety assessment and it directly affects the design, safety and final cost of the project. Errors in the Functional Hazard Assessment can lead to insufficient system safety or unreasonably expensive development. The main purpose of the work is to introduce the Functional Hazard Assessment validation process which minimizes the risk of incorrect development of MC-21 aircraft Flight Control System. To achieve this goal, Model-Based Design methods are used as validation methods. The time benefit in detecting and isolating errors in algorithms and software with the help of the Model-Based Design is shown. Integrated Flight Control System which includes fly-by-wire control system and automatic flight control system of the Irkut’s airliner MC-21 safety requirements validation process using means of Model-Based Design is considered. As a result of the work, Integrated Flight Control System models were adapted for assessing functional hazards, and a user interface was developed for the flight crew to participate in the simulation of the failures.

Design and Implementation of a Dual-IP Core UAV Flight Control System Based on Qsys

Abstract The principle and key technology of each module of flight control system of advanced UAV at home and abroad are analyzed and studied. Using Verilog HDL language optimization design completed sensor driver module, navigation control module, the flight control module and Avalon bus control module, such as using Altera corporation’s latest SOPC design integrated tools Qsys constructs the IP core of navigation and control, and flight control IP core, the final design implements a dual-IP core navigation and control as the core of the UAV flight control system. Dual-IP core based on Qsys tool development of UAV flight control system not only instruction processing speed and occupy less hardware resources, and has high system integration, low cost, good robustness, refactoring is strong wait for an advantage, its performance is superior to the traditional micro controller and the DSP chip ordinary construction of UAV flight control system, has a certain application value and practical significance.

The fly-by-wire system

This report shows the execution and evolution of airplane flight control systems. The report describes the development of airplane flight control systems and gives a survey of the principal phases of the flight control systems that assure the finding and execution of the fly-by-wire system. The development of flight control systems, from human control with mechanical links to a wire-driven computer, is a remarkable representation of the development of aeronautical technologies. The fly-by-wire system constitutes a fast-forwarding in aircraft design, from mechanical linkage to large hydraulic actuators to computer-assisted fly-by-wire system. The use of the fly-by-wire system has generated huge satisfaction for the aircraft industry by lessening the weight of the flight control system, by creating multiple redundancy flight control systems, which increases the flight safety of all aircraft equipped with the fly-by-wire system. The passage from analog to digital is another fast-forwarding in the development of fly-by-wire systems.

PWM Rectifier Fast Response Method for Electric Servo Loading System

The electric servo loading system can more fully test the stability and dynamic performance of the motor body and controller, and is widely used in the research and development of flight control systems. The traditional dual PWM converter has hysteresis characteristics. When the load power is abrupt, especially when the load power is suddenly reduced, the DC output voltage of the PWM rectifier will fluctuate. Voltage fluctuations can be suppressed by increasing the capacitance of the DC side capacitors, but an increase in the capacitance capacity causes the adjustment time of the system to become longer and slows down the response speed of the system. By analyzing the fluctuation of DC output voltage caused by sudden load change, a variable feedforward control method for iq load power is proposed, which uses the method of compensating the active current on the grid side to achieve instantaneous active power balance on both sides. The simulation results show that the method reduces the DC capacitor capacity and improves the dynamic response speed of the system.

Proposal of a new simplified fluid dynamic model for aerospace servovalves

Highly detailed computer models are required for design and development of modern flight control systems, capable of emulating with high accuracy the behaviour of on-board equipment. At the same time, different simplified models are needed, specifically intended for operations such as the optimization of preliminary design and the development of diagnostic or prognostic strategies. These simplified models are required to combine sufficient levels of accuracy and reliability with reduced computational costs, to minimize the computational burden associated with prognostic and optimization algorithms. In this work, we focus on electro-hydraulic actuators, since they are critical subsystems in terms of safety and availability of the aircraft. Advanced monitoring and prognostic algorithms require new numerical models, combining an acceptable computational effort with a satisfying ability to simulate their performance and dynamics. To this purpose, this paper proposes a new simplified numerical model of the servovalve fluid-dynamic behaviour. This numerical algorithm, based on a very compact semi-empirical formulation, is intended to take into account in a simplified but sufficiently accurate way several typical effects related to the SV spool geometry and the operating conditions. To evaluate the approximations introduced by this model into a system-level simulation, it has been integrated into a dedicated numerical model simulating a simple electrohydraulic on-board actuator, and compared with a higher fidelity servovalve model.

Locomotion Control of Pigeons using Polymer-based Deep Brain Electrodes.

This paper describes the electrical modulation of locomotion in pigeons using deep brain electrodes. Polymer-based depth electrodes with four channels were fabricated. Based on the location of the nucleus intercollicularis (ICo), the shanks of the depth electrodes were designed to be a length of 11 mm. After the implantation of the depth electrode into the ICo region of the brain, it was connected by wires to a custom-made stimulator, and biphasic current pulses were delivered. Current pulses with an amplitude of 0.5 mA, a rate of 58.0 Hz, and a duration of $320\mu \mathrm{s} $s were applied for 0.5 s. When the ICo region was electrically stimulated, taking-off behavior was successfully induced for 0.4 s. Induction of taking-off behavior by electrical stimulation, when coupled to control of turning and running forward locomotions, may contribute to the development of remote flight-control system of freely moving pigeon.

The development requirement and design considerations for advanced civil aircraft flight control system

With the development of modern civil aviation industry and the increasingly fierce market competition environment, the requirements for civil aircraft equipment continue to improve, especially the safety, economy, comfort and environmental friendly demands. How to enhance the technical ability in order to meet the requirements of the flight control system has become a problem which must be considered in the design and development of advanced aircraft flight control system. This paper reviews and analyzes the development trend of domestic and foreign typical series of civil aircraft flight control technology, refining the demands faced by civil aircraft flight control system in order to seek further development, and puts forward the corresponding design considerations.

Методика синтеза программно-аппаратных комплексов автоматизированной разработки систем управления полетом беспилотных летательных аппаратов

Методика синтеза программно-аппаратных комплексов автоматизированной разработки систем управления полетом беспилотных летательных аппаратов

Development of Flight Control System and Troubleshooting on Flight Test of a Tilt-Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The full results of troubleshooting process related to the flight control system of a tilt-rotor type UAV in the flight tests are described. Flight tests were conducted in helicopter, conversion, and airplane modes. The vehicle was flown using automatic functions, which include speed-hold, altitude-hold, heading-hold, guidance modes, as well as automatic take-off and landing. Many unexpected problems occurred during the envelope expansion tests which were mostly under those automatic functions. The anomalies in helicopter mode include vortex ring state (VRS), long delay in the automatic take-off, and the initial overshoot in the automatic landing. In contrast, the anomalies in conversion mode are untrimmed AOS oscillation and the calibration errors of the air data sensors. The problems of low damping in rotor speed and roll rate responses are found in airplane mode. Once all of the known problems had been solved, the vehicle in airplane mode gradually reached the maximum design speed of 440km/h at the operation altitude of 3km. This paper also presents a comprehensive detailing of the control systems of the Tilt-rotor unmanned air vehicle (UAV).

低速度領域におけるスタビレス産業用無人ヘリコプタの運動特性

Increasing total thrust of unmanned helicopter is highly demanded. Stabilizer-bar system is widely applied to improve stability and handling quality of unmanned helicopter. It, however, is a serious obstacle to increase the total thrust. Handling quality of stabi-less unmanned helicopter, which does not have stabilizer-bar system, is usually inferior to conventional unmanned helicopter because of large and very fast cross-coupled responses. For safe operation of stabi-less unmanned helicopter, development of flight control system is required. The purpose of this paper is to develop an accurate model of stabi-less unmanned helicopter. We focused on low-speed flight and induced velocity's change due to angular rate and forward speed. Following results were obtained based on analysis of the derived model; Uniform change of the induced velocity causes trim change due to flight speed and does not cause cross-coupled responses. Non-uniform distribution of the induced velocity causes large and fast cross-coupled responses. Numerical simulation data agree with flight experimental data using a specially developed stabi-less unmanned helicopter. Consequently, a dynamical model proposed in this paper is enough accurate to describe properties of stabi-less unmanned helicopter at low-speed flight.

基于集成数字化的月地高速再入返回飞行器飞控支持系统

Circumlunar return and reentry spacecraft accurately landed within the predetermined area in SiZiWangQi, Inner Mongolia on Nov. 1, 2014, which marks the successful completion of the reentry test in the third phase of ChangE lunar exploring project, and indicates that the key technology of deep space reentry return, as the speed of the spacecraft is close to the second cosmic velocity, is fully mastered by China. It ensures the smooth implementation of ChangE-5 program and lays a solid foundation of the lunar exploring project. During the flight control of circumlunar return and reentry spacecraft, the integrated digital flight control support system (IDFCS) is played a key role in ether flight control strategy development, simulation & validation and design optimization. In this paper, the principle and architecture design of the IDFCS for Spacecraft is proposed, and the key points of the system, such as acceleration of processor simulation, virtual chip modeling, automatic test script, general user interface, data dynamic interpretation, are analyzed. Finally, the practical effect of the IDFCS for circumlunar return and reentry spacecraft is present. The actual in-orbit validation shows that some of the satellite flight control problems, such as the complexity of constraints, the difficulty of strategy determination, are solved by the present system, and rich experience in both theory and engineering is accumulated for the subsequent development of the satellite flight control system.