Wed, May 30, 2007
Technology Holds Promise For Many Types Of Aircraft
Athena Technologies announced Wednesday the successful flight
demonstration of damage tolerant flight control and autonomous
landing capabilities on a subscale F/A-18 UAV. The Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored the demonstration, which
was held on April 18, 2007 at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in
Maryland.
The objective of the test was to prove that adaptive flight
controls could regain baseline aircraft performance after the
aircraft had sustained simulated battle damage and then safely land
the aircraft autonomously with only the onboard INS/GPS
functionality of Athena's GuideStar 111m for navigation.
The demonstration involved a subscale F/A-18 UAV, powered by a
turbojet engine, that sustained wing battle damage simulated with
the in-flight ejection of an aileron (shown above). Athena's damage
tolerant controls detected the damage in flight and adapted to the
new air vehicle configuration for the effects of the lost aileron,
recovering the baseline vehicle performance.
The vehicle then successfully landed in the damaged state with
Athena's INS/GPS-only autonomous landing system within a few feet
of the target touch down point on the airfield runway.
Damage tolerance is an enabling capability for increasing the
mission reliability of UAVs and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles
(UCAVs) operating in hazardous and high-threat environments. The
technology provides for real-time autonomous accommodation of
damage, followed by an adaptation process that alters the flight
control system to compensate for the effects of the damage. During
the flight test, Athena demonstrated a capability that could be
applicable to all military aircraft operating in combat
environments. The technology is also relevant to any vehicle,
manned or unmanned, including civilian aircraft, that might sustain
physical damage or failures that impact controlled flight.
Athena tells ANN the demonstration highlights the challenge and
importance of the ability to autonomously land an air vehicle that
has sustained damage. This powerful capability can potentially save
the military the significant expense of lost UAVs and better
protect US proprietary technology.
More importantly, when applied to manned aircraft... the
combined technology solution could just save lives.
More News
Airbus Racer Demonstrator Makes Inaugural Flight Airbus Helicopters' ambitious Racer demonstrator has achieved its inaugural flight as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, a corners>[...]
A little Bit Quieter, Said Testers, But in the End it's Still a DA40 Diamond Aircraft recently completed a little pilot project with Lufthansa Aviation Training, putting a pair of >[...]
Line Up And Wait (LUAW) Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance >[...]
Contributing To The Accident Was The Pilot’s Use Of Methamphetamine... Analysis: The pilot departed on a local flight to perform low-altitude maneuvers in a nearby desert val>[...]
From 2015 (YouTube Version): Overcoming Obstacles To Achieve Their Dreams… At EAA AirVenture 2015, FedEx arrived with one of their Airbus freight-hauling aircraft and placed>[...]
Airbus Racer Helicopter Demonstrator First Flight Part of Clean Sky 2 Initiative
See All