Development of a Dynamic Model for a UAV.

Abstract

Moments of inertia were experimentally determined and the longitudinal and lateral/directional static and dynamic stability and control derivatives were estimated for a fixed wing Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV). High fidelity, non-linear equations of motion were derived and tailored for use on the specific aircraft. Computer modeling of these resulting equations was employed both in Matlab/Simulink and in Matrix(sub x)/Systembuild. The resulting computer model was linearized at a specific flight condition, and the dynamics of the aircraft were predicted. Several flight tests were conducted at a nearby airfield and the behavior of the aircraft was compared to that of the computer model. The longitudinal dynamics as depicted by the short period mode were found to be almost identical with those predicted by the non-linear computer model. The phugoid mode was also observed and found to be in close agreement. In the lateral/directional dynamics, flight test was employed to improve the model and the parameters were modified to obtain a better math. Ultimately a reasonably accurate non-linear model was achieved as required for purposes of control and navigation system design.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA331969

Entities

People

  • Evangelos C. Papageorgiou

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Control Systems Engineering
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Dynamics
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Guidance
  • Navigation
  • Reliability
  • Remotely Piloted Vehicles
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Control Systems Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy