Parameter Estimation of Unmanned Flight Vehicle Using Wind Tunnel Testing and Real Flight Data

The work presented in this paper addresses the longitudinal parameter estimation of an unmanned configuration using wind tunnel testing and flight data. For this purpose, an unmanned aerial vehicle has been designed with a cropped delta planform and rectangular cross-section. Exhaustive full-scale wind tunnel tests were carried out on the designed unmanned flight vehicle to capture the linear and nonlinear variation of aerodynamic force and moment coefficients. The measured wind tunnel test data, in the form of signals, have been processed to forces and moments about the desired reference point of the designed unmanned platform. A comprehensive discussion on the obtained results from wind tunnel testing has been presented. In order to enhance the confidence in the generated aerodynamic database from wind tunnel testing and also to estimate the dynamic derivatives, two sets of real flight data pertaining to longitudinal dynamics (acquired during the flight tests) have been used. The parameter estimation in the linear domain has been carried out using conventional maximum likelihood and least-square methods. The estimated longitudinal parameters from the flight data were used to corroborate the aerodynamic coefficients derived from the wind tunnel measurements. © 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.