Abstract
A precision landing flight test of a tilt-rotor UAV called the TR-60M was performed on shipboard and motion platforms. The ship moved at 10 kt speed on the sea in a sea-state 2 condition, and the motion platform also moved at 10 kt speed between the edges of a runway while simulated with sea-state 2 motion during the flight test. All flight tests were performed using the automatic takeoff, hover, and landing function of TR-60M based on the relative navigation. This is called a real-time kinematic global navigation satellite system (RTK-GNSS). A total of 11 and 10 sorties of automatic takeoff and landing were performed to evaluate the landing accuracy on the running motion platform and shipboard, respectively. The accuracy of the precision landing test satisfied the requirements of shipboard landing in the sea-state 2 condition.
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Abbreviations
- AGL:
-
Above ground level
- dx :
-
North position error
- dy :
-
East position error
- dt :
-
Epoch time of an operational flight program (OFP)
- CEP:
-
Circular error probability
- FLDP:
-
Final landing decision point
- GNSS:
-
Global Navigation Satellite System
- GPS:
-
Global Positioning System
- h :
-
Height
- MSL:
-
Mean sea level
- r :
-
Polar position error
- RMS:
-
Root mean square
- TDP:
-
Touchdown point
- UAV:
-
Unmanned air vehicle
- V d :
-
Total speed of ship or deck
- V Ecmd :
-
Speed command in the East direction
- V Ncmd :
-
Speed command in the North direction
- V Tcmd :
-
Total speed command
- VTOL:
-
Vertical takeoff and landing
- V v :
-
Total speed of UAV
- X :
-
Lateral position error on moving deck
- x d :
-
North position of ship or deck
- x v :
-
North position of UAV
- Y :
-
Longitudinal position error on moving deck
- y d :
-
East position of ship or deck
- y v :
-
East position of UAV
- ψ d :
-
Heading angle of ship or deck
- ψ LOS :
-
Heading of line of sight from UAV to ship
- ψ v :
-
Heading angle of UAV
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Acknowledgement
This study was supported by the research project of “Technology development for shipboard operation of 200-kg-class tilt-rotor UAV” supported by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea, and the “Research on air-situational awareness and autonomous flight control technology” supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea. We want to give special thanks to the Korea Coast Guard for use of the training ship “Badaro” for a flight test on deck. The flight test results are the property of all members of the TR-60 development team. Their contributions and support led to the success of this project.
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Kang, Y., Park, BJ., Cho, A. et al. A Precision Landing Test on Motion Platform and Shipboard of a Tilt-Rotor UAV Based on RTK-GNSS. Int. J. Aeronaut. Space Sci. 19, 994–1005 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42405-018-0081-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42405-018-0081-8