Low Cost Flight-Test Platform to Demonstrate Flight Dynamics Concepts using Frequency-Domain System Identification Methods

Abstract

A low-cost prototype platform for educational use has been developed. The goal of the system is to serve as a hands-on classroom flight dynamics demonstrator. Onboard sensors and data storage devices allow for recording of multiple flight parameters for system identification. The prototype is hosted on the Dynam HawkSky model airplane, an inexpensive foam electric glider equipped with standard 3-axis primary controls. The flight control and data acquisition hardware and software are all open-source, providing an architecture which is readily accessible to university students. The core of the hardware is a commercially available flight controller based on the Arduino Mega micro-controller board. The open-source software can be easily modified by students to evaluate various flight control laws. Modular hardware simplifies the swapping of the system from one airplane to another, allowing for effective and data driven flight testing of student’s design projects at minimal cost. Successful flights have demonstrated the capability for flight parameter identification using frequency response techniques through the CIFER ® software package. This paper presents flight test identification results for the 6DOF stability and control derivatives and compares these with the analytical estimates as based on first principles.