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
 Tier 2- Scan Eagle
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

 Alenia Sky-X
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 2007
1. Scaled Composites Model 395
2. Scaled Composites Model 396
3. 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 2030
1. Joint unmanned combat aircraft system
capable of performing suppression of
enemy air defenses/strike/electronic
attack/surveillance in high threat
environments
2.-9. 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
 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
 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
 Pilot’s control weapons
release
Q’s
 References
Concorde Technical Specs, http://www.concordesst.com/autopilot.html
UAV Roadmap 2005-2030, www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/uav_roadmap2005.pdf
Dp-5X, X-50 Dragonfly, http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001748.html
UAVs as Tactical wingmen,
http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/www/labs/halab/papers/UAV_wingmen_AUVSIdraft.pdf
Autopilot Design, http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=406&gTable=mtgpaper&gID=95289
Flight Systems and Goals http://www.aa.washington.edu/research/afsl/
TCAS-94 http://www.rockwellcollins.com/ecat/br/TCAS-94_PrintFriendly.html
UAV Autopilot, http://www.baykarmakina.com/english/baykaruas/autopilot.asp
www.navyleague.org/sea_power/ju106-22.php
www.defenselink.mil
Aviation Week + Space Technology July 24, 2006 pg 64-65