Real-time simulation for online identification of aircraft parameters using Fourier transform regression

Online identification of aircraft parameters allows more intelligent control methods to be adopted. However, performing real flight tests during the development process of an identification algorithm is very difficult. This paper presents a real-time simulation system for online identification experiments that uses double computers with MATLAB and X-Plane flight simulation software. The computers communicate with each other using the user datagram protocol in real time. The simulation system was employed with an identification algorithm called Fourier transform regression to identify the aerodynamic and control derivatives online. The results indicated that the proposed scheme performed well.