Fixed Wing Deflection Measurement using Sensor Fusion

The system presented in this paper integrates measurements from Deflection-Detection-Vision-System (DDVS) and strain gauge sensors to calculate the dynamic performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fixed-wing. The fusion results are more accurate and reliable than the measurement from the single sensor alone, and this is used to design an advanced control system. Unscented Kalmar Filter (UKF) is the choice of fusion method because it gives better performance in dealing with nonlinear systems and deals with white and color Gaussian noise. The presented novel measurement and control system gives accurate shape and deflection of the fixed-wing, which will be used to calculate the aerodynamic performance. The DDVS was verified in extensive experiments with the system installed in the wind tunnel. The objective of experiments conducted was to determine the wing's deflection in flight parameters' function. The results of the camera and strain gauges integration resulted in accurate measurements in comparison with results obtained from one sensor only.