Autonomous Control Modes and Optimized Path Guidance for Shipboard Landing in High Sea States

Abstract

This project is performed under the Office of Naval Research program on Basic and Applied Research in Sea-Based Aviation (ONR BAA12-SN-0028). This project addresses the Sea Based Aviation (SBA) initiative in Advanced Handling Qualities for Rotorcraft.Landing a rotorcraft on a moving ship deck and under the influence of the unsteady ship airwake is extremely challenging. In high sea states, gusty conditions, and a degraded visual environment, workload during the landing task begins to approach the limits of a human pilots capability. It is a similarly demanding task for shipboard launch and recovery of a VTOL UAV. There is a clear need for additional levels of stability and control augmentation and, ultimately, fully autonomous landing (possibly with manual pilot control as a back-up mode for piloted flight). There is also a clear need for advanced flight controls to expand the operational conditions in which safe landings for both manned and unmanned rotorcraft can be performed. For piloted rotorcraft, the current piloting strategies do not even make use of the available couplers and autopilot systems during landing operations. One of the reasons is that, as the deck pitches and rolls in high sea states, the pilot must maneuver aggressively to perform a station-keeping task over the landing spot. The required maneuvering can easily saturate an autopilot that uses a rate limited trim system. For fly-by-wire aircraft, there is evidence that the pilot would simply over-compensate and negate the effectiveness of a translation rate command/position hold control mode. In addition, the pilots can easily over-torque the rotorcraft, especially if they attempt to match the vertical motion of the deck.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 29, 2016
Accession Number
AD1002746

Entities

People

  • Chengjian He
  • John Tritschler
  • Joseph F. Horn
  • Sean Roark

Organizations

  • Pennsylvania State University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Algorithms
  • Altitude
  • Climate Change
  • Control Systems
  • Flight
  • Flight Paths
  • Glide Slope
  • Helicopters
  • Low Altitude
  • Maneuvers
  • Navigation
  • Optimization
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Sea Based
  • Ship Decks
  • Simulations

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Autonomous System Control