Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Model Validation Using On-Board Sensing and Instrumentation

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight dynamics model has been developed to predict the stability and flying characteristics of small UAVs. Extreme flight environments can be created in the simulation for autopilot testing. Another important application of the UAV flight dynamics model is dead reckoning, a process of estimating the aircraft's motions from the last known state during the interval of losing GPS signals. An effective model could also remove the need for some of the expensive sensors required for navigation. For the flight dynamics model to be of real use, its accuracy must be known and documented, so that it can be analyzed and sources of errors identified. This paper presents the process and hardware developed for validating a UAV flight dynamics model.