Title :
Control performance analysis for autonomous close formation flight experiments
Author :
Rice, Crispin ; Yu Gu ; Haiyang Chao ; Larrabee, Trenton ; Gururajan, Srikanth ; Napolitano, M. ; Mandal, Tanmay ; Rhudy, Matthew
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mech. & Aerosp. Eng. (MAE), West Virginia Univ. (WVU), Morgantown, WV, USA
Abstract :
Close Formation Flight is a key potential approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing traffic in future high density airspace. This paper discusses the implementation and flight testing of a formation flight controller. Experimental results show that an autonomous close formation flight with approximately 5-wingspan separation is achievable with a pair of low-cost unmanned research aircraft.
Keywords :
aircraft testing; autonomous aerial vehicles; 5-wingspan separation; air traffic management; autonomous close formation flight experiments; control performance analysis; flight testing; formation flight controller; greenhouse gas emission reduction; high density airspace; low-cost unmanned research aircraft; unmanned aerial vehicles; Aerospace control; Aerospace electronics; Aircraft; Aircraft propulsion; Educational institutions; Geometry; Unmanned aerial vehicles; UAV; close formation flight; flight control; flight testing;
Conference_Titel :
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), 2014 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Orlando, FL
DOI :
10.1109/ICUAS.2014.6842372
