An enhanced prediction methodology for rapid performance and control design of highly maneuverable UAVS

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are capable of rapid, agile maneuvers that were not previously possible in piloted vehicles. Nap-of-the-earth flight in natural and urban terrain, as well as swarm or manned-unmanned teaming flight, requires both accurate quasi-steady aerodynamics and the inclusion of relevant unsteady physics in order to accurately extend current methods for these applications. In this effort, the impact of these aerodynamic assumptions are assessed on vehicle performance and control law design during agile maneuvers. A previously validated reduced-order unsteady aerodynamics model provides an appraisal of the importance of the unsteady terms for UAV flight control, which are shown to result in different trajectories and performance over a maneuver. The sensitivity of the performance and stability of the UAV when simplified canonical configurations are employed is also demonstrated.