Parameterization and Computation of Automatic Take-off and Landing Trajectories for Fixed-Wing UAV

Automatic conduct of take-off and landing (ATOL) are key capabilities of unmanned or optionally piloted aerial vehicles. At the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the Technical University of Munich, system architecture and functional algorithms for automatic flight guidance and control of the novel fixed-wing UAV ‘SAGITTA Demonstrator’ have been developed. The design of its ATOL system has been tailored to meet challenges common to novel small- to medium-sized UAV: Uncertain performance characteristics of the air vehicle, comparatively low-cost sensor equipment and systems, and limited possibility of human interaction during unmanned operation. After giving an overview of the ATOL system, this paper presents recent work, during which the initially prototypic maneuver design and implementation has been generalized and parameterized to allow for easy adaption to other operating scenarios, aerodromes, or even air vehicles. Based on a parametric definition of take-off and landing maneuvers, a newly-developed framework configures the ATOL system consistently for a specific application scenario as defined and specified by the user. The set of input parameters required and the calculations carried out by the framework to configure the automatic take-off and landing maneuvers are discussed in this paper.     «

Automatic conduct of take-off and landing (ATOL) are key capabilities of unmanned or optionally piloted aerial vehicles. At the Institute of Flight System Dynamics of the Technical University of Munich, system architecture and functional algorithms for automatic flight guidance and control of the novel fixed-wing UAV ‘SAGITTA Demonstrator’ have been developed. The design of its ATOL system has been tailored to meet challenges common to novel small- to medium-sized UAV: Uncertain performance char...     »