Measurement and analysis of certain flight parameters based on MEMS sensors

Abstract

Abstract. Gyroscopes established one of the fundamental references for attitude and heading in aerospace applications. The information about angular velocities gives input not only for autopilot, but also damping devices, such as yaw or pitch dampers for example. The MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) gyroscopes are much less reliable than their laser or fibre-optic cousins. Nevertheless, the availability and low price of MEMS components make this a growing area of application in avionics for general aviation aeroplanes. This paper presents certain results of flight data analysis registered during the flight testing campaign of the new experimental lowpower single-engine turbo-propeller utility aeroplane I-31T. The research was focused on identification of oscillation modes, distinctive for the new aeroplane, such as engine precession or shimmy. The data came from a three-axis MEMS gyroscope and accelerometer recorder, placed near to the centre of gravity. Wavelet transform, which was used for analysis, gave better precision in time domain than Fourier transform, especially for signals of low frequency.

Detection of Aircraft Touchdown Using Longitudinal Acceleration and Continuous Wavelet Transformation

“…Stochastic characteristics of sensors were also investigated using Allan variance [ 17 ] and generalized method of wavelet moments (GMWM) [ 12 , 26 ]. Figure 13 presents empirical wavelet variance (WV) of measured data (10 6 observations per parameter).…”

“…During one of the landings, the pilot unexpectedly experienced the shimmy vibrations of the front landing gear. The authors presented the analysis of this occurrence in detail in the 2017 paper [ 12 ]. One of the problems identified that required solution was the determination of the exact time of a touchdown by airframe vibrations analysis.…”

“…The task in question required a solution based on data recorded by the autonomous flight parameter recorder on board the I-31T aeroplane [ 12 , 14 ]. There was no connection between the device ( Figure 1 B) and onboard installations.…”

“…The incipient touchdown effect manifests as vibrations transmitted by the aircraft’s structure to the sensors. Direct interpretation of raw and time-series might introduce significant inaccuracies, as in [ 7 , 12 ]. The characteristic phenomenon accompanying the touchdown of the landing gear (both main and front in the case of I-31T) is the formation of longitudinal oscillations (recorded mainly in the form of changes; Figure 2 B and Figure 3 B).…”

Distributed measurement system based on CAN data bus

“…One of the research tasks recently carried out by a team of researchers from the Department of Avionics and Control Systems, Rzeszów University of Technology, was to analyze the vibration and oscillation of an airplane using wavelet methods (Bakunowicz and Rzucidlo, 2017). Such analyses have also been carried out in other research centers but have applied to aircraft of other classes (Naruoka et al , 2009; Lichota et al , 2016).…”