Flight control simulators for unmanned fixed-wing and VTOL aircraft

Flight control simulators for fixed-wing aircraft and VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft have been developed for understanding flight control dynamics and for improving control strategies and performances. They simulate automatic control of a flight path of the aircraft, using six-degree-of-freedom nonlinear equations to represent aircraft dynamics. The control system is multi-layered. For fixed-wing aircraft, it consists of flight-path controller, heading and flight-path angle controller, acceleration controller and attitude controller. The control strategy is based on ‘required acceleration’, proposed by the first author. On the other hand, the VTOL aircraft is of ducted-fan type. It has a propeller at the top of the duct, fixed vanes below it to cancel the counter torque of the propeller, and control vanes to control the attitude. The simulators have proved effective in testing and improving aircraft control strategies.