In June 2003, the Helios (AeroVironment, Inc., Monrovia, California) prototype unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV) experienced significant pitch instability during low-altitude flight that lead to a catastrophic structural failure and in-flight breakup. One of the most significant lessons learned from the mishap investigation was the requirement to provide real-time measurement of wing shape. This measurement could ultimately be used as feedback into the flight control system for aeroelastic motion control. Wing shape sensing (WSS) is, therefore, an essential first step towards achieving the ultimate goal of actively controlling the wing shape during flight, reducing aerostructural loads and avoiding such failures in the future. Calculating real-time wing shape is particularly challenging especially for lightweight, highly-flexible structures because of the stringent weight and volume requirements, both for structural sensors and supporting systems. A recent study assessed the viability of using conventional strain gage instrumentation and demonstrated that the wire weight alone represented a prohibitive weight penalty and was impractical to implement for many aerospace vehicles. Alternatively, lightweight and low-profile fiber optic wing shape sensors (FOWSS), in conjunction with computationally efficient algorithms, were viewed as a promising approach to providing very accurate wing measurement calculations for eventual input to the flight control system for aeroelastic motion control. Both inhabited and uninhabited aircraft will benefit from this technology.


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    Title :

    Fiber Optic Wing Shape Sensing on the Ikhana Vehicle


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2007


    Size :

    3 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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