Aircraft Deck Motion Compensation Design

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) personnel must approve operations of aircraft for developmental test, operational test, and fleet service. With respect to handling qualities, piloted vehicle specifications have evolved over decades with significant investments in the development of validated requirements that have been verified and validated through extensive flight test campaigns. For UAS applications, the following issues are a concern to NAVAIR because analogous handling qualities specifications do not exist: over-constraint on the design due to application of manned requirements, existing specifications include considerations for pilots that are no longer in the vehicle, new UAS specific missions are not considered in the piloted specification, and supporting toolsets do not exist to examine the above. To address the needs of the UAS community at NAVAIR and throughout the Department of Defense as outlined above, a team led by Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) has developed the UAS-HQ process that features a draft specification including means of compliance test methods (and a software toolbox that supports the analysis of collected test data against the proposed specification requirements). The process begins with UAS classification. Because of the wide variety of UAS types and vehicle size there cannot be a one-size-fits-all set of requirements. Given an appropriate classification, a mission can be broken down into mission task elements or MTEs. Missions are then broken down into specific task elements that include those elements that will be a part of any mission or are mission specific. These MTEs are used to identify specific criteria that predict handling qualities analytically, test demonstration maneuvers, and the means of compliance that verify handling qualities in flight. Initial work in this area conducted by the STI team as part of a Phase II SBIR conducted for NASA Langley Research Center focused on the small UAS that will operate commercially at altitudes below 400 feet. NAVAIR followed with a Direct to Phase II issued the STI team as a discretionary award to adapt this technology for current and future UAS of interest to the Navy and more generally the Department of Defense. The keys to maturing the specification and the accompanying software tools are data and validated assessment guidance. The proposed project below will therefore mature the UAS-HQ SBIR technology through the verification and validation of the emerging specification using existing data sets from current Navy UAS and the collection of new databases using helicopter in-flight simulators that will serve as UAS surrogates. Additional data will be sought through enhanced partnerships with UAS OEMs through simulation studies or companion flight test activities. Further, the proposed work will introduce necessary scaling techniques and updated guidance on system identification methods for autonomous UAS.