Seminar: Design and Development of a High-Speed Autonomous UAV for Beyond Line of Sight Operations

On August 30, 2017, a team of Ohio State researchers and students set world records (pending official review) for speed (147 mph) and distance over an out-and-back course (28 miles) for an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) named the Avanti. This presentation will cover the development of the high-speed small UAS used to set this record. Details will be presented on range estimation for aircraft using a commercial off the shelf turbine powerplant. Significant changes were necessary to enable the jet to safely traverse the given distances with fuel burn rates more commonly seen on full sized, manned general aviation aircraft. In addition to the range issues introduced by the turbine propulsion system, extensive detail will be presented on the design and integration of the command and control (C2) link used to maintain positive control during all phases of flight. This system relied on careful characterization of several RF transceivers, and new deconfliction strategies and mitigation routines for potential loss of communications events. Details will be provided for testing of the RF components using the Electro Science Laboratory's compact range facility. Armed with the data this facility provided, accurate RF range and power requirements were developed, and ultimately proved successful in maintaining positive control during all phases of the record flight. The mission was not without incident however. Numerous RF and structural failures occurred during the months preceding the attempt. The fundamental lessons learned during these trying moments will be discussed in the hopes that valuable insight into the process required to field new high-performance UAS systems might be disseminated. Additional enabling flight systems such as the inertial navigation and flight management computers will be presented with emphasis on the limitations imposed by flight at higher speeds. These include advanced real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS systems, and custom designed inertial navigation and air-data computers. These systems proved invaluable in identifying and mitigating failures which occurred on several occasions during the flight-test trials of the Avanti. Finally, the talk will conclude with a discussion of the crew resource management dilemmas that can occur when conducting a record flight while combatting stress, fatigue, systems failures, weather, and the unknown unknowns.

Hosted by Professor Jim Gregory