Automated Flight Test and System Identification for Rotary Wing Small Aerial Platform using Frequency Responses Analysis

TL;DR

This paper introduces an autopilot system for small rotorcraft that automates flight testing and system identification using frequency response analysis, ensuring high-quality data and safety during tests.

Contribution

It presents a novel autopilot system that automatically generates frequency sweeps and enforces safety parameters for efficient system identification of small rotorcraft.

Findings

Successful hardware-in-the-loop testing in hover conditions

Automated frequency sweep generation improves data quality

Safety parameters effectively prevent flight test hazards

Abstract

This paper proposes an autopilot system that can be used to control the small scale rotorcraft during the flight test for linear-frequency-domain system identification. The input frequency swept is generated automatically as part of the autopilot control command. Therefore the bandwidth coverage and consistency of the frequency swept is guaranteed to produce high quality data for system identification. Beside that we can set the safety parameter during the flight test (maximum roll or pitch value, minimum altitude, etc) so the safety of the whole flight test is guaranteed. This autopilot for automated flight test will be tested using hardware in the loop simulator for hover flight condition.