On the trade-off between electrical power consumption and flight performance in fixed-wing UAV autopilots

This paper sets out a study of the autopilot design for fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) taking into account the aircraft stability, as well as the power consumption as a function of the selected control strategy. To provide some generality to the outcomes of this study, construction of a reference small-UAV model, based on averaging the main aircraft defining parameters, is proposed. Using such a reference model of small, fixed-wing UAVs, different control strategies are assessed, especially with a view towards enlarging the controllers' sampling time. A beneficial consequence of this sample time enlargement is that the clock rate of the UAV autopilots may be proportionally reduced. This reduction in turn leads directly to decreased electrical power consumption. Such energy saving becomes proportionally relevant as the size and power of the UAV decrease, with benefits of lengthening battery life and, therefore, the flight endurance. Additionally, through the averaged model, which is derived from both published data and computations made from actual data captured from real UAVs, it is shown that behavior predictions beyond that of any particular UAV model may be extrapolated.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Maneuverability assessment of a compound helicopter configuration

The compound helicopter design could potentially satisfy the new emerging requirements placed on the next generation of rotorcraft. The main benefit of the compound helicopter is its ability to reach speeds that significantly surpass those of the conventional helicopter. However, it is possible that the compound helicopter design can provide additional benefits in terms of maneuverability. The paper features a conventional helicopter and a compound helicopter. The conventional helicopter features a standard helicopter design with a main rotor providing the propulsive and lifting forces, while a tail rotor, mounted at the rear of the aircraft, provides the yaw control. The compound helicopter configuration features both lift and thrust compounding. The wing offloads the main rotor at high speeds, and two propellers provide additional axial thrust as well as yaw control. This study investigates the maneuverability of these two helicopter configurations using inverse simulation. The results predict that a compound helicopter configuration is capable of attaining greater load factors than its conventional counterpart, when flying a pullup–pushover maneuver. In terms of the accel–decel maneuver, the compound helicopter configuration is capable of completing the maneuver in a shorter time than the conventional helicopter, but at the expense of greater installed engine power. The addition of thrust compounding to the compound helicopter design reduces the pitch attitude required throughout the acceleration stage of the maneuver

Aeronautical engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 80

This bibliography lists 277 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1977

Multi-Objective Flight Control for Ride Quality Improvement for Flexible Aircraft

This paper describes a multi-objective flight control system design for ride quality improvement for flexible aircraft using multi-functional distributed flight control surfaces. A multi-objective optimal control design is developed to provide an acceleration suppression capability in conjunction with a gust load alleviation in order to provide ride quality improvement. A gust estimation is developed to estimate the gust load using a recursive least-squares algorithm. A ride quality assessment study is conducted using a flexible wing generic transport model. Six different flight control designs are implemented. The study shows that ride quality can be significantly improved with the acceleration suppression control

Aeronautical Engineering: A continuing bibliography, supplement 120

This bibliography contains abstracts for 297 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1980

Aeronautical engineering: A continuing bibliography, supplement 122

This bibliography lists 303 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1980