MBSE for Civil Aircraft Scaled Demonstrator Requirement Analysis and Architecting

A civil aircraft scaled demonstrator is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) obtained by reducing the geometry of a civil aircraft by an equal scale and simplifying the airframe and airborne subsystems. Due to the low development cost and flight risk of scaled demonstrators, flight tests with demonstrators are an attractive way to assess the reliability and effectiveness of new configurations and/or technologies available for civil aircraft. Nevertheless, engineers still hope to reduce the development cycles and costs of demonstrators to evaluate their multiple civil aircraft design solutions through flight tests in a short period of time. Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a formalized requirement and architecture modeling method which is a useful tool in aircraft design. However, no existing MBSE framework has been found suitable for the development of demonstrators due to their unique features. In this paper, an MBSE approach for civil aircraft scaled demonstrator is proposed based on the MagicGrid methodology and the existing technical process for the demonstrator. This approach formalizes the requirement analysis and architecting for demonstrators via system modeling language (SysML). Meanwhile, the stakeholders of civil aircraft scaled demonstrators are identified, and a requirement ontology and modeling standard are established according to existing demonstrator development practice. Then, a case study is performed through a hybrid power demonstrator which carries a hydrogen fuel cell as the main power supply, a set of solar cells, and two lithium cells. The requirement traceability and verifiability are examined, and a logic simulation is executed for architecture, which shows the feasibility of applying the MBSE approach for the development of civil aircraft scaled demonstrators.