Flight Dynamic Stability Performance of the Baseline-IX Blended-Wing-Body Unmanned Aerial System Using Flight Simulator

A flight simulator or software-in-the-loop system (SITL) could be used to gather the flight quality or performance data of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) virtually. The concept was done by integrating the software acting as the command and control station, Mission Planner and an advance virtual aircraft piloting software, X-Plane 11. Unlike the ordinary or conventional aircraft, a BWB UAS flying quality characteristic is known to be unstable. Through the SITL concept, every new design of blended-wing-body (BWB) UAS flying quality could be tested virtually in a realistic environment through the realism of a flight simulator under a controlled and standardized environment. This will be a more cost-effective testing method in the long run, compare to the inexpensive real flight testing. The Baseline-IX UAS, developed by FTTC team in UiTM Shah Alam were tested under various environment model and a set of flight performance data were produced. The data were used to understand the flight characteristic of the design under test and for the purpose of design improvement of the Baseline-IX UAS design in the future.