Citation:
S. Carnduff, A. Cooke. Application of aerodynamic model structure determination to UAV data. The Aeronautical Journal, July 2011, Volume 115, number 1169.
Abstract:
This paper concerns aircraft system identification and, in particular, the
process of aerodynamic model structure determination. Its application to
experimental data from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is also described. The
procedure can be particularly useful for determining an aerodynamic model for
aircraft with unconventional airframe configurations, which some unmanned
aircraft tend to have. Two model structure determination techniques are
outlined. The first is the well-established stepwise regression method, while
the second is an adaptation of an existing frequency response approach which
instead utilises maximum likelihood estimation. Example applications of the
methods are presented for two data sources. The first is a set of UAV flight
test data and the second is data recorded from dynamic wind tunnel tests on a
UAV configuration. For both examples, the model structures determined using
stepwise regression and maximum likelihood analysis matched one another,
suggesting that the maximum likelihood approach and the chosen thresholds for
its statistical metrics were reliable for the data being analysed.