International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences

Formation controller for multiple spacecrafts is designed based on a decentralized approach. The objective of the proposed controller is to make each spacecraft fly to the desired waypoints, while keeping the formation shape of multiple spacecrafts. To design the decentralized formation controller, the output feedback linearization technique using error functions for goal convergence and formation keeping is utilized for spacecraft dynamics. The primary contribution of this paper is to propose optimal controller for formation flying based on the decentralized approach. To design the optimal controller, eigenvalue assignment technique is used. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller, numerical simulations are performed for three-dimensional waypoint-passing missions of multiple spacecrafts.

We propose a spacecraft attitude estimation algorithm using a federated unscented Kalman filter. For nonlinear spacecraft systems, the unscented Kalman filter provides bett er performance than the extended Kalman filter. Also, the decentralized scheme in the federated configuration makes a robust system because a sensor fault can be easily detected and isolated by the fault detection and isolation algorithm through a sensitivity factor. Using the proposed algorithm, the spacecraft can continuously perform a given mission despite navigation sensor faults. Numerical simulation is performed to verify the performance of the proposed attitude estimation algorithm.

An experimental control system is proposed for the attitude control of a simplified 2-DOF helicopter model. The main rotor is a rigid one, and the fuselage is simply supported by a fixed hinge point where the longitudinal motion is decoupled from the lateral one since the translations and the rolling rotation are completely removed. The yaw trim of the helicopter is performed with a tail rotor, by which the azimuthal attitude can be adjusted on the rotatable post in the yaw direction. The robust sliding mode control tracking a given attitude angle is proposed based on the flight dynamics. A pitch damper is inserted for the control of pitching angle while the compensator to reaction torque is used for the control of azimuth angle. Several parameters of the system are selected through experiments. The results shows that the proposed control method effectively counteracts nonlinear perturbations such as main rotor disturbance, undesirable chattering, and high frequency dynamics.

An advanced aeroelastic formulation for flutter analyses is presented in this paper. Refined 1D structural models were coupled with the doublet lattice method, and the g-method was used for flutter analyses. Structural models were developed in the framework of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF). Higher-order 1D structural models were obtained by using Taylor-like expansions of the cross-section displacement field of the structure. The order (N) of the expansion was considered as a free parameter since it can be arbitrarily chosen as an input of the analysis. Convergence studies on the order of the structural model can be straightforwardly conducted in order to establish the proper 1D structural model for a given problem. Flutter analyses were conducted on several wing configurations and the results were compared to those from literature. Results show the enhanced capabilities of CUF 1D in dealing with the flutter analysis of typical wing structures with high accuracy and low computational costs.

Numerical simulations of 3D aircraft configurations are performed in order to understand the effects of turbulence models on the prediction of aircraft's aerodynamic characteristics. An in-house CFD code that solves 3D RANS equations and two-equation turbulence model equations are used. The code applies Roe's approximated Riemann solver and an AF-ADI scheme. Van Leer's MUSCL extrapolation with van Albada's limiter is also adopted. Various versions of Menter's SST turbulence models as well as Coakley's model are incorporated into the CFD code. Menter's SST models include the standard model, the 2003 model, the model incorporating the vorticity source term, and the model containing controlled decay. Turbulent flows over a wing are simulated in order to validate the turbulence models contained in the CFD code. The results from these simulations are then compared with computational results from the AIAA CFD Drag Prediction Workshop. Numerical simulations of the DLR-F6 wing-body and wing-body-nacelle-pylon configurations are conducted and compared with computational results of the AIAA CFD Drag Prediction Workshop. Aerodynamic characteristics as well as flow features are scrutinized with respect to the turbulence models. The results obtained from each simulation incorporating Menter's SST turbulence model variations are compared with one another.

The Stratospheric Airship Platform (SAP) has a capability of performing the autonomous and guidance flight to satisfy given missions. To be used as the High Altitude Platforms (HAPs), the capabilities of controlling platform's accurate position and keeping the station point are the most important features. Under this circumstances Autonomous Flight Control System (AFCS) is a critical system and plays a key role in achieving the given requirements and succeeding in missions. In this paper, the design and analysis results of the AFCS algorithms and controller are presented. The brief summary of the AFCS hardware structure is also explained. The autopilot controller and guidance logics were designed based on the linear dynamics of the unmanned airship platform and the full nonlinear dynamics was considered to evaluate and verify their performances.

In this paper, a visco-hysteretic vibration absorber (VA) is proposed to increase the flutter speed of an airfoil and enhance damping in the pre and post-flutter regimes. The passive system consists of a parallel arrangement of a dashpot and a rate independent hysteretic element, represented by the Bouc-Wen differential model. The equations of motion are obtained and various tools of linear and nonlinear dynamics are employed to study the effects of the visco-hysteretic VA in the pre and post flutter ranges.

Acoustic response control of a comer-pinned plate using piezoelectric wafers was studied, both theoretically and experimentally. Three different sizes of aluminum alloy plates were used and available ball joints were employed to hold the plate at the four comers. The plate with the largest aspect ratio showed the largest and most clear responses to the acoustic excitation in the range of frequencies (0~200Hz), and sound pressure levels (80~100dB) as predicted. The reduction of the acoustic response of the plate by piezoelectric actuator was very significant, more than expected, but abatement of the sound transmission through the plate was only slightly altered by the piezoelectric actuator. This work is an original work extending earlier work with doors excited by acoustic fields. The important difference is the used of ball joints to simulate the joints.

This paper presents an advanced computational method for the prediction of the responses in the frequency domain of general linear dissipative structural-acoustic and fluid-structure systems, in the low-and medium-frequency domains and this includes uncertainty quantification. The system under consideration is constituted of a deformable dissipative structure that is coupled with an internal dissipative acoustic fluid. This includes wall acoustic impedances and it is surrounded by an infinite acoustic fluid. The system is submitted to given internal and external acoustic sources and to the prescribed mechanical forces. An efficient reduced-order computational model is constructed by using a finite element discretization for the structure and an internal acoustic fluid. The external acoustic fluid is treated by using an appropriate boundary element method in the frequency domain. All the required modeling aspects for the analysis of the medium-frequency domain have been introduced namely, a viscoelastic behavior for the structure, an appropriate dissipative model for the internal acoustic fluid that includes wall acoustic impedance and a model of uncertainty in particular for the modeling errors. This advanced computational formulation, corresponding to new extensions and complements with respect to the state-of-the-art are well adapted for the development of a new generation of software, in particular for parallel computers.

An active compensation method for the deformation of composite structures using additional controllable metal parts is proposed, and its feasibility is experimentally investigated in a simulated space environment. Composite specimens are tested in a vacuum chamber, which is able to maintain pressure on the order of 10-3 torr and interior temperature in the range of ±30 °C. The displacement-measuring interferometer system, which consists of a heterodyne HeNe laser and an interferometer, is used to measure the displacement of the whole structure. Meanwhile, the strain of the composite part and temperature of both parts are measured by fiber Bragg grating sensors and thermistors, respectively. The displacement of the composite structure is maintained within a tolerance of ±1 μm by controlling the elongation of the metal part, which is bonded to the end of the composite part. Also, the possibility of fiber Bragg grating sensors as control input sensors is successfully demonstrated using a proper corrective factor based on the specimen temperature gradient data.

Human spaceflight experience in extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is limited to two regimes: the micro-gravity environment of Earth orbit, and the lunar surface environment at one-sixth of Earth's gravity. Future human missions to low-gravity bodies, including asteroids, comets, and the moons of Mars, will require EVA techniques that are beyond the current experience base. In order to develop robust approaches for exploring these small bodies, the dynamics associated with human exploration on low-gravity surface must be characterized. This paper examines the translational and rotational motion of an astronaut on the surface of a small body, and it is shown that the low-gravity environment will pose challenges to the surface mobility of an astronaut, unless new tools and EVA techniques are developed. Possibilities for addressing these challenges are explored, and utilization of the International Space Station to test operational concepts and hardware in preparation for a low-gravity surface EVA is discussed.

In general, a conventional flap on an aircraft wing can reduce the aerodynamic efficiency due to geometric discontinuity. On the other hand, the aerodynamic performance can be improved by using a shape-morphing wing instead of a separate flap. In this research, a new flap morphing mechanism that can change the wing shape smoothly was devised to prevent aerodynamic losses. Moreover, a prototype wing was fabricated to demonstrate the morphing mechanism. A shape memory alloy (SMA) wire actuator was used for the morphing wing. The specific current range was measured to control the SMA actuator. The deflection angles at the trailing edge were also measured while various currents were applied to the SMA actuator. The trailing edge of the wing changed smoothly when the current was applied. Moreover, the deflection angle also increased as the current increased. The maximum frequency level was around 0.1 Hz. The aerodynamic performance of the deformed airfoil by the SMA wire was analyzed by using the commercial program GAMBIT and FLUENT. The results were compared with the results of an undeformed wing. It was demonstrated that the morphing mechanism changes the wing shape smoothly without the extension of the wing skin.

An adaptive backstepping controller is designed for the automatic landing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The backstepping control scheme is adopted by using the nonlinear six degree-of-freedom dynamics of the aircraft during the landing phase. The adaptive law is integrated along with the backstepping controller in order to estimate the aircraft modeling errors as well as the external disturbance. The dynamic constraints of the states and the actuator inputs are taken into account in the parameter adaptation. This is done to prevent an aggressive adaptation and to provide reliable control commands. Numerical simulations were performed to verify the performance of the proposed control law for the landing of the aircraft with the presence of gust and actuator stuck.

This paper presents an approach on the design of a nonlinear controller to track a reference velocity for an air-breathing supersonic vehicle. The nonlinear control scheme involves an adaptation of propulsive and aerodynamic characteristics in the equations of motion. In this paper, the coefficients of given thrust and drag functions are estimated and they are used to approximate the equations of motion under varying flight conditions. The form of the function of propulsive thrust is extracted from a thrust database which is given by preliminary engine input/output performance analysis. The aerodynamic drag is approximated as a function of angle of attack and fin deflection. The nonlinear controller, designed by using the approximated nonlinear control model equations, provides engine fuel supply command to follow the desired velocity varying with time. On the other hand, the stabilization of altitude, separated from the velocity control scheme, is done by a classical altitude hold autopilot design. Finally, several simulations are performed in order to demonstrate the relevance of the controller design regarding the vehicle.

A Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) is an enabling technology for an aircraft's precision approach based on a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). However, GBAS is vulnerable to interference, so effective GNSS interference detection and mitigation methods need to be employed. In this paper, an intentional GNSS interference detection and characterization algorithm is proposed. The algorithm uses Automatic Gain Control (AGC) gain and adaptive notch filter parameters to classify types of incoming interference and to characterize them. The AGC gain and adaptive lattice IIR notch filter parameter values in GNSS receivers are examined according to interference types and power levels. Based on those data, the interference detection and characterization algorithm is developed and Monte Carlo simulations are carried out for performance analysis of the proposed method. Here, the proposed algorithm is used to detect and characterize single-tone continuous wave interference, swept continuous wave interference, and band-limited white Gaussian noise. The algorithm can be used for GNSS interference monitoring in an excessive Radio Frequency Interference environment which causes loss of receiver tracking. This interference detection and characterization algorithm will be used to enhance the interference mitigation algorithm.

Adaptive control methods are studied for the Satellite to isolate vibration in spite of the nonlinear system dynamics and parameter uncertainties of disturbance. First, a centralized control scheme is developed based on the particle swarm optimization(PSO) algorithm and feedback theory to automatically tune controller gains. A simulation study of a 3 degree-of-freedom device was conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed control scheme. Next, since a centralized control scheme is hard to construct model dynamics and not goad at performance when controller and systems environment are easily changed, a decentralized control scheme is presented to avoid these defects of the centralized control scheme from the point of view of production and maintenance. It is based on the adaptive control methodologies to find PID controller parameters. Experiment studies were conducted to apply the adaptive control scheme and evaluate the performance of the proposed control scheme with those of the conventional control schemes.

Active aeroelastic control is an emerging technology aimed at providing solutions to structural systems that under the action of aerodynamic loads are prone to instability and catastrophic failures, and to oscillations that can yield structural failure by fatigue. The purpose of the aeroelastic control among others is to alleviate and even suppress the vibrations appearing in the flight vehicle subcritical flight regimes, to expand its flight envelope by increasing the flutter speed, and to enhance the post-flutter behavior usually characterized by the presence of limit cycle oscillations. Recently adaptive and robust control strategies have demonstrated their superiority to classical feedback strategies. This review paper discusses the latest development on the topic by the authors. First, the available control techniques with focus on adaptive control schemes are reviewed, then the attention is focused on the advanced single-input and multi-input multi-output adaptive feedback control strategies developed for lifting surfaces operating at subsonic and supersonic flight speeds. A number of concepts involving various adaptive control methodologies, as well as results obtained with such controls are presented. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and numerical results obtained with the various control strategies.

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system is a key component of CNS/ATM recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as the next generation air traffic control system. ADS-B broadcasts identification, positional data, and operation information of an aircraft to other aircraft, ground vehicles and ground stations in the nearby region. This paper explores the ADS-B based trajectory prediction and the conflict detection algorithm. The multiple-model based trajectory prediction algorithm leads accurate predicted conflict probability at a future forecast time. We propose an efficient and accurate algorithm to calculate conflict probability based on approximation of the conflict zone by a set of blocks. The performance of proposed algorithms is demonstrated by a numerical simulation of two aircraft encounter scenarios.

Helical tip vortex is known as stable vortex structure, however the specific frequency component of far wake perturbation induces the vortex pairing in hover and axial flight. It is expected that the tip vortex pairing phenomena may happen in transition flight and very low advance ratio flight so that inflow may be most nonuniform in the low advance ratio flight. The objectives of this paper are that a tip-vortex instability during the transition from hover into very low advance ratio forward flight is numerically predicted to understand a physics by using a time-marching free-wake method. To achieve the objectives, numerical method is firstly validated in typical axial and forward flights cases. Present scheme with trim routine can predict airloads and inflow distribution of forward flight with good accuracy. Then, the transition flight condition is calculated. The rotor used in this wake calculation is a small-scale AH-1G model. By using a tip-vortex trajectory tracking method, the tip-vortex pairing process are clearly observed in transient flight(=0.03) and disappears at a slightly higher advance ratio(=0.05). According to the steady flight simulation at =0.03, it is confirmed the tip-vortex pairing process is continued in the rear part of rotor disk and not occurs in the front part. Time averaged inflow in this case is predicted as smooth distribution.

Active and shape morphing aerospace structures are discussed with a focus on activities aimed at practical implementation. In active structures applications range from dynamic load alleviation in aircraft and spacecraft up to static and dynamic shape control. In contrast, shape morphing means strong shape variation according to different mission status and needs, aiming to enhance functionality and performance over wide flight and mission regimes. The interaction of required flexible materials with the morphing structure and the actuating mechanisms is specifically addressed together with approaches in design and simulation.

UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) has become one of the most popularmilitary/commercial aerial robots in the new millennium. In spite of all theadvantages that UAVs inherently have, it is not an easv job to develop a UAVbecause it requires very systematic and complete approaches in full developmentenvelop. The ground test and evaluation phase has the utmost importance in thesense that a well-developed system can be best verified on the ground. In addition,many of the aircraft crashes in the flight tests were resulted from the incompletedevelopment procedure. In this research, a verification procedure of the wholeairbome integrated system was conducted including the flight management system.An airbome flight control computer(FCC) senses the extemal environment from thepehpheral devices and sends the control signal to the actuating system using theassigned control logic and flight test strategy. A ground test station controls themission during the test while the downlink data are transferred from the flightmanagement computer using the serial communication interface. The pilot controlbox also applies additional manual actuating commands. The whole system wastested/verified on the wind-tunnel system, which gave a good pitch controlperformance with a preUspecified flight test procedure. The ground test systemguarantees the performance of fundamental functions of airbome electronic systemfor the future flight tests.

The present work focuses on the unsteady aerodynamics and aeroelastic properties of a small-medium sized wind-turbine blade operating under ideal conditions. A tapered/twisted blade representative of commercial blades used in an experiment setup at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is considered. The aerodynamic loads are computed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques. For this purpose, FLUENT, a commercial finite-volume code that solves the Navier-Stokes and the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, is used. Turbulence effects in the 2D simulations are modeled using the Wilcox k-w model for validation of the CFD approach. For the 3D aerodynamic simulations, in a first approximation, and considering that the intent is to present a methodology and workflow philosophy more than highly accurate turbulent simulations, the unsteady laminar Navier-Stokes equations were used to determine the unsteady loads acting on the blades. Five different blade pitch angles were considered and their aerodynamic performance compared. The structural dynamics of the flexible wind-turbine blade undergoing significant elastic displacements has been described by a nonlinear flap-lag-torsion slender-beam differential model. The aerodynamic quasi-steady forcing terms needed for the aeroelastic governing equations have been predicted through a strip-theory based on a simple 2D model, and the pertinent aerodynamic coefficients and the distribution over the blade span of the induced velocity derived using CFD. The resulting unsteady hub loads are achieved by a first space integration of the aeroelastic equations by applying the Galerkin's approach and by a time integration using a harmonic balance scheme. Comparison among two- and three- dimensional computations for the unsteady aerodynamic load, the flap, lag and torsional deflections, forces and moments are presented in the paper. Results, discussions and pertinent conclusions are outlined.

Configuration design, analysis, and wind tunnel test of a vane-type multi-function air data probe (MFP) was described. First, numerical analysis was conducted for the initial configuration of the MFP in order to investigate aerodynamic characteristics. Then, the design was modified to improve static and dynamic stability for better response characteristics. The modified configuration design was verified through wind tunnel tests. The test results are also used to verify the accuracy of the analytical method. The analytically estimated aerodynamic damping provided by the Navier-Stokes equation solver correlated well with the wind tunnel test results. According to the calculation, the damping coefficient estimated from ramp motion analysis yielded a better correlation with the wind tunnel test than pitch oscillation analysis.

A number of existing and emerging concepts for formulating solution algorithms applicable to multidisciplinary inverse problems involving aerodynamics, heat conduction, elasticity, and material properties of arbitrary three-dimensional objects are briefly surveyed. Certain unique features of these algorithms and their advantages are sketched for use with boundary element and finite element methods.

The model-free control of aeroelastic vibrations of a non-linear 2-D wing-flap system operating in supersonic flight speed regimes is discussed in this paper. A novel continuous robust controller design yields asymptotically stable vibration suppression in both the pitching and plunging degrees of freedom using the flap deflection as a control input. The controller also ensures that all system states remain bounded at all times during closed-loop operation. A Lyapunov method is used to obtain the global asymptotic stability result. The unsteady aerodynamic load is considered by resourcing to the non-linear Piston Theory Aerodynamics (PTA) modified to account for the effect of the flap deflection. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the robust control strategy in suppressing dynamic aeroelastic instabilities, such as non-linear flutter and limit cycle oscillations.