Flight test for gust alleviation on a high aspect ratio UAV platform

Gust alleviation active control technology is a powerful means for aircraft to deal with the impact of gust. In order to evaluate the designed gust alleviation system, flight test is indispensable. However, how to evaluate the effectiveness of the gust alleviation system is a difficult problem, because it is difficult to accurately measure wind gusts under natural conditions. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an "open-close" statistical test method. Taking a large aspect ratio UAV as the test object, the gust alleviation system was designed based on PID control principles and was superimposed on the original aircraft's stabilization system for flight tests. The results were analyzed by statistical methods which show that the centroid overload of the aircraft equipped with the gust alleviation system is reduced by 20.5%, and the wing root bending moment is reduced by 12.9%, which indicate that the test method proposed in this paper is feasible and effective. © 2022 AAAS Press of Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All rights reserved.