Trajectory Tracking for High Aspect-Ratio Flying Wings

Brijesh Raghavan, Mayuresh Patil and Craig Woolsey

1
Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering,
Virginia Tech.
AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit
Honolulu, HI, August 2008
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 1 / 18
Outline
1
Introduction
2
Modeling
3
Results
4
Conclusions and Future Work
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 2 / 18
Introduction
Motivation and Overview
High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) ying wings designed for high
aspect ratio and low structural weight
Exhibit high exibility and signicant static aeroelastic deformation in
ight
Previous work showed that a rigid ying wing model that accounts for
static aeroelastic deformation at trim captures pre-dominant ight
dynamic characteristics of the corresponding exible ying wing
Current work on design of a ight controller using a non-linear guidance
law and dynamic inversion for path-following
Results presented for a curved, rigid ying wing for a straight line and
circular path
Modication to controller proposed for exible ying wings
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 3 / 18
Modeling
Overview of closed-loop simulation
Figure: Closed-Loop Schematic
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Modeling
Modeling for simulation
Flying wing structure is modelled using a geometrically exact, intrinsic
beam formulation developed by Hodges
Small strain assumption, uses linear elastic law
Equations are augmented by intrinsic kinematic equations that relate
velocity and angular velocity to strain and curvature
Aerodynamic loads are modelled using a 2-D aerodynamics model
developed by Peters and Johnson
Aerodynamic model augmented to account for the effect of skin friction
drag
Propulsive system consists of multiple engines along the span
Energy conserving, Finite-difference based discretization
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 5 / 18
Modeling
Post-processing of state vector
State vector from the simulation module has 21 structural variables for
each node, and 6 unsteady aerodynamic variables for each element
Mass and moment of inertia properties specied for each element in the
FE model
Dynamic Inversion for ight control requires calculation of equivalent
ight dynamic variables
These quantities are calculated in the mean reference frame which has its
origin at the CG
First part of post-processing module computes the following quantities at
each time instant
r
cg
, I
cg
, P, H
M
, V
cg
,
M
Second part of post-processing module calculates Euler angles of the
mean axis and inertial co-ordinates of the CG
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 6 / 18
Modeling
Controller Design
Figure: Closed-Loop Schematic
Figure: Differential Thrust
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Modeling
Controller Design: Guidance Module
Ground path following based on work by Park et al.
a
l
d
= 2
V
g
2
L
1
sin
a
h
d
= 2V
2

(h
c
h)
L
2
h
2V

h
L
h
a
v
d
= K
vel
(V

c
V

)
V
a
d
=
_
_
_
a
d
v
cos a
d
h
sin
a
d
l
a
d
v
sin + a
d
h
cos
_
_
_
Figure: Guidance Algorithm
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 8 / 18
Modeling
Dynamic Inversion
Equations of motion to be inverted
M
f
aero
+
M
f
g
+
M
f
T
= M
total
(
M

V
cg
+
M

M
M
V
cg
)
_
_
_
M

M1
M

M2
M

M3
_
_
_
=
_
_
0 cos
mi
sin
mi
cos
mi
1 0 sin
mi
0 sin
mi
cos
mi
cos
mi
_
_
_
_
_

mi

mi

mi
_
_
_
M
m
aero
+
M
m
T
=
M
I
cg
M

M
+
M

M
M
I
cg
M

M
Calculation of demanded rates
M

V
cg
+
M

M
M
V
cg
= C
MVV
a
d

d
mi
= K

(
mi
c

mi
)

d
mi
= K

(
mi
c

mi
)

d
mi
= K

(
mi
)
M

d
M
= K

(
M

Mc

M

M
)
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 9 / 18
Results
Parameters of Rigid Flying Wing
Table: Input parameters
b = 73.06 m C
L

= 2 C
L

= 1 C
D
0
= 0.01
c = 2.44 m C
m
0
= 0.025 C
m

= 0 C
m

= 0.25
I
xx
= 4.15 kg m I
yy
= 0.69 kg m I
zz
= 3.46 kg m = 8.93 kg/m
L
1
= 609.6 m K
vel
= 0.001 K

= 0.1 K

= 1
L
h
= 6304.8 m C
L
0
= 0 x
ac
= 0.0 m m
ex
= 22.67 kg
Wing tip dihedral 5

Position of wing tip dihedral 12.19 m from wing tip

Aileron position outboard 12.19 m from wing tip
Radius of curvature of wing 219.45 m
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 10 / 18
Results
Curved Rigid Wing: Straight Line path
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
32
32.5
33
33.5
34
time in s
T

i
n

N
Thrust
(a) Thrust
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
9.1
9.15
9.2
9.25
9.3
time in s
f
l
a
p

i
n

flap deflection
(b) Flap
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0.5
0
0.5
time in s
a
i
l
e
r
o
n

i
n

aileron deflection
(c) Aileron
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
time in s

T

i
n

N
Redistributed thrust
(d) T
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Results
Curved Rigid Wing: Straight Line path
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
time in s

i
n

roll angle of mean axis

(e) Roll
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
3.78
3.79
3.8
3.81
3.82
3.83
time in s

i
n

pitch angle of mean axis

(f) Pitch
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
1.5
1
0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
time in s

i
n

yaw angle of mean axis

(g) Yaw
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
5
0
5
10
15
time in s
y

c
o

o
r
d

i
n

m
Y coord
flight path
commanded trajectory
(h) Y co-ord
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
time in s

h
e
i
g
h
t

i
n

m
altitude in m
(i) Altitude
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 12 / 18
Results
Curved Rigid Wing: Circular path
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
32
32.5
33
33.5
34
34.5
35
35.5
36
time in s
T

i
n

N
Thrust
(j) Thrust
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
9.1
9.15
9.2
9.25
9.3
time in s
f
l
a
p

i
n

flap deflection
(k) Flap
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
time in s
a
i
l
e
r
o
n

i
n

aileron deflection
(l) Aileron
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
time in s

T

i
n

N
Redistributed thrust
(m) T
(Virginia Tech) HALE Trajectory Tracking AFM 08 13 / 18
Results
Curved Rigid Wing: Circular path
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
time in s

i
n

roll angle of mean axis

(n) Roll
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
3.65
3.7
3.75
3.8
3.85
3.9
time in s

i
n

pitch angle of mean axis

(o) Pitch
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
time in s

i
n

yaw angle of mean axis

(p) Yaw
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
0
1000
2000
3000
y coord in m
x

c
o

o
r
d

i
n

m
ground track
flight path
commanded trajectory
(q) Ground Track
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
2
0
2
4
6
8
10
time in s

h
e
i
g
h
t

i
n

m
altitude in m
(r) Altitude
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Results
Flexible Wing: Straight Line path
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
time in s
T

i
n

N
Thrust
(s) Thrust
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
time in s
a
i
l
e
r
o
n

i
n

aileron deflection
(t) Aileron
Figure: Control deections for straight and level ight
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Results
Proposed Modication for Flexible Flying Wings
Figure: Closed-Loop Schematic for Flexible Flying Wings
Similar modication done by Gregory for a HSCT conguration
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Conclusions and Future Work
Conclusions and Future Work
Conclusions
Path-following controller designed for a high-aspect ratio ying wing
using multi-step dynamic inversion and a non-linear guidance law
Results presented for a curved, rigid-wing case for tracking a straight
line and a circular path
Future Work
Modify controller to make it work on the exible ying wing
Augment controller for Gust Load Alleviation
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Conclusions and Future Work
Thank you !
Questions ?
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