Autonomous Flight AIAA Group 6 Mat Thompson

Autonomy- The degree to which something is subject to control from the outside  Unmanned Aerial Vehicles  Manned Aerial Vehicles

UAV Autonomy  Least- Target and Drone  Civil and Commercial  Reconnaissance  Research and Development  Most- UCAV  Sensor Fusion  Communications  Motion Planning  Trajectory Generation  Task Allocation

UAV Tier Systems USAF Tier System  Tier 1 Low altitude, long endurance- Gnat 750  Tier 2 Medium altitude, long endurance- MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper  Tier 2+ High Altitude Long Endurance Conventional- RQ-4 global Hawk  Tier 3- High altitude long endurance low observable- RQ-3 Dark-star

USMC Tier System  Tier 1- Dragon Eye scouts urban areas, launched by bungee chords scouts urban areas, launched by bungee chords  Tier 2- Scan Eagle needs four humvees to carry system needs four humvees to carry system

UCAV  J-UCAS Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems  X-45 UCAV Attack missions successful. Communication.  X-47 Pegasus Collision avoidance software. Group flight.  Real Time communication and decision making between UCAVs  Program Canceled

Foreign Autonomous Vehicles  nEUROn drop a bomb by 2012 drop a bomb by 2012  Alenia Sky-X still in test flight stages still in test flight stages  Autonomous Vehicles Worldwide

Future Autonomous Flight  Air Force “Hunter-Killer” Program will select one of the five for production after Scaled Composites Model Scaled Composites Model General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (already flying) 4. Aurora/Israeli Eagle/Heron 2 5. Lockheed ? *6. Raytheon package

Unmanned Systems Roadmap  DoD autonomous goals until Joint unmanned combat aircraft system capable of performing suppression of enemy air defenses/strike/electronic attack/surveillance in high threat environments logistics to support goal 1.

Full Autonomy  P-175 Polecat is being developed by Lockheed to have full autonomy from take-off to landing.  Triple Redundant Flight Control Software

Far Future… Keeping the man-in-the-loop Keeping the man-in-the-loop

Autopilot  Modern autopilots use inertial guidance systems as well as GPS or radio to correct flight path errors  Lower Fuel consumption  Modern Auto Flight Systems can take- off, ascend, level, descend, approach, land. Everything but taxi  Category IIIb landing guides the planes automatic pilot through landing and rollout  Category IIIc does the previous and taxis the plane to the terminal. Requires 3 autopilot systems

Concorde Autopilot  Auto Throttle  Autopilot Horizontal  Autopilot Vertical  Datum Adjust  Warning Landing Display

Auto Throttle  3 Modes  Mach Hold- keeps make number steady, even with temperature change  IAS Hold- holds indicated air speed  IAS ACQ- will change to selected air speed then switch to IAS hold

Autopilot Horizontal  INS- aircraft follows waypoints by inertial navigation system  TRK HDG- pull for heading, follow compass push for track, direct path accounting wind speeds push for track, direct path accounting wind speeds  HDG Hold  VOR LOC- tracks a selected beacon  Back Beam- non-autopilot tracking back beam localizer

Autopilot Vertical  PITCH HOLD  MACH HOLD- hold mach number by pitch changes, not throttle  MAX CLIMB- climbs at near max operating speed  MAX CRUISE-engages at height of max climb  IAS HOLD- holds airspeed by pitch changes  ALT HOLD  VERT SPEED

More Vertical Autopilot  ALT ACQ  TURB- holds pitch, altitude and heading, reduces trim  LAND- CATIIIb system, second redundant autopilot engaged  GO AROUND- pitch 15 deg. Hold wings. Initiated when two of the throttle levers are forward in land or glide mode  GLIDE- used before pilot makes a manual landing

Datum Adjust  Add or subtract speed by Mach 0.6  Autopilot turn at 5 deg/s to adjust heading  Pitch Adjust

Warnings  Red lights flash if failure in autopilot autothrottle  DH flashes if under set height  LAND2/3 flash if CATII or CATIII are supported  Aircraft deviation lights  Test

Auto Correct  Stall warnings- stick shaker  Deep Stall warning- stick pusher  Collision Avoidance- TCAS III  Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System gives vocalize suggestions horizontally and vertically among multiple aircraft to avoid collision  FAA regulates that even false alarms be treated as real threats  Next Generation TCAS may auto correct flight path to avoid collision

Modern Autopilot  C-17 Globemaster III uses the Electronic flight Control System.  New CsLEOS has memory partition to allow multiple applications to run simultaneously without interference.  Operate autopilot, air/ground collision warning, deep stall avoidance, angle of attack limiter, all engine out autopilot, safe go- around autopilot, navigation, engine control, flight control….  Can do take-off modes for all levels of flight for pitch, roll, and yaw. Autopilot is sensitive to the stick, and engages or disengages automatically when it is in use.

Manned and Unmanned  UAVs assist manned fighters bombers, air combat, air defense bombers, air combat, air defense  Pilot’s control weapons release

Q’s

References Concorde Technical Specs, UAV Roadmap , Dp-5X, X-50 Dragonfly, UAVs as Tactical wingmen, Autopilot Design, Flight Systems and Goals TCAS UAV Autopilot, Aviation Week + Space Technology July 24, 2006 pg 64-65