Flight Test Based System Identification of an Unmanned Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Publikation: Beitrag in Buch/Konferenzbericht/Sammelband/GutachtenBeitrag in KonferenzbandBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

Abstract

This paper presents the setup and results of a flight test campaign performed to identify the longitudinal motion of a small unmanned fixed-wing aircraft. The flight test experiments include manoeuvres to excite short-period and phugoid dynamics, as well as gliding flights to determine drag coefficients. Frequency ranges of the manoeuvre inputs are selected based on the dynamics of an initially derived linear approximation of the aircraft dynamics using aerodynamic vortex lattice method computations. By applying grey-box system identification, the corresponding aerodynamic parameters are estimated from recorded measurement data. The gathered results indicate satisfactory correlation with the mathematical modelling of the aircraft. This not only enables the development of suitable model-based control algorithms but also validates the entire mathematical model development chain for small fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, i.e., from the initial approximation to flight test validation.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
TitelCEAS EuroGNC 2026 Conference
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 4 Mai 2026
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-6734-704X/work/213786687

Schlagworte

Schlagwörter

  • System Identification, Flight Test, Small Fixed-Wing UAV