A Novel Instrumentation System for Measurement of Helicopter Rotor Motions and Load Data

A novel instrumentation system is proposed for use in flight testing rotorcaraft to determine individual rotor blade motions and loads. Estimation of rotor blade loads and motions are required for validation of advanced high-fidelity simulators in both military flight training and operational procedures evaluations. The instrumentation is based upon the use of distributed accelerometer sensor data with a signal processing technique, called a "Kinemeatic Observer", to independently determine both rotor states and forces. The proposed instrumentation system builds upon previous work by the principal investigator in using distributed accelerometers for active rotor control applications. Direct use of acceleration data provides enhanced structural reponse prediction capability that is often otherwise generated only through complex computations when using more traditional model-based estimation techniques. The proposed system, with the exception of data recording equipment, would be self-contained and generic such that it could be used in flight tests on a variety of helicopters in service by the Navy.