An Easy to Use Engineering Method for Identification of Complex Flight Dynamics From Flight Test Data

Abstract

The demand to get maximum flight performance with minimum risk for accidents drives the model-based engineering approach when designing flight control laws. The accuracy of the models used needs to be high in order to be able to make realistic simulations to meet these demands. Making models from numerical calculations (CFD) and wind tunnel tests is fairly simple because data are given in a structured way, but data from flight tests are unstructured since control surfaces move due to pilot commands and control system feedback. Additional complications are unstable nonlinear dynamics, noise from measurements and atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, a relatively easy to use engineering method, which gives promising and robust results, is presented.