A Digital Close-Range Photogrammetry System for Attitude Measurement of Aircraft Model in Wind Tunnel: A Preliminary Discussion

This paper investigates a digital photogrammetry system for attitude measurement of an aircraft model in wind tunnel. Many retroreflective targets are firstly printed on the surface of the aircraft model. Then a binocular digital photogrammetry system is used to measure the 3D coordinates of the retroreflective targets in the World coordinate frame. Once the 3D coordinates of the retroreflective targets are measured accurately, the attitude of the aircraft model in wind tunnel can be determined precisely. The method for attitude measurement has been validated in a controlled laboratory environment, and some preliminary experimental results are presented in the paper. The experimental results show that the maximum deviation of attitude measurement does not exceed 0.11 degree on condition that the retroreflective targets are separated from each other by one meter.