Automatic Control of Formation Flight in the Upwind Field of the a Proceeding Aircraft

飞机迎风场编队飞行自动控制

• 批准号: 210166512
• 负责人: Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Luckner
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Fachgebiet Flugmechanik, Flugregelung und Aeroelastizität
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2011-12-31 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/210166512?language=en
• 关键词: Automatic; Control; Formation; Flight; Upwind

Aviation has to significantly reduce its emissions in the future. The potential of saving power while flying in formation like migratory birds has long been known, but is still unused. Using this technique, airplanes can save 15-20% of fuel. The trailing aircraft uses the upwind field of the preceding aircraft to reduce thrust and thereby fuel consumption. In several flight tests fuel reductions of 8-15% were successfully demonstrated for different types of aircraft for example in July 2013 using Boeing C-17 transport aircraft on long cruise flight segments. Those flights were performed manually or by using an experimental, relatively simple position control system.In the first project phase it was demonstrated, that tight formation flight using transport aircraft is possible - with fuel reductions of 10% for the following aircraft. The procedure for entering and maintaining the formation in automatic operation was proposed and pilots confirmed it to be feasible. The structure of the control system and its design methods were devised, a control system for seeking the optimal position in the upwind field which is robust against vortex-axes variations was developed. The automatic formation flight can be demonstrated in a flight simulator. To date the investigations are confined to formations of two identical aircraft (homogenous formation), flying steady, straight horizontal trajectories, and limited to flights without failures.Based on the perceptions made so far it can be assumed that formation flight can be used in commercial flight operations (Hypothesis H1). The expected benefits will justify the efforts that are needed to develop necessary systems and procedures (H2). A broad acceptance by aircraft operators and pilots is still missing. It can only be achieved if formation flight is not only cost-efficient but also safe and reliable. To achieve this, an automatic formation flight control system including sensors and displays, which is robust against parameter changes, as well as flight procedures that cover normal flight operations and failures are required (H3).The objective of the second project phase is to clarify, based on the working hypotheses H1 to H3, how and under which conditions the automatic formation flight - including heterogeneous formations - can be safely, efficiently, and comfortably performed so that it can be used in commercial flight operation. The research will be carried out in five steps: 1) definition of procedures, 2) formulation of requirements, 3) development of a concept for sensors and display, 4) design of the control system, and 5) evaluation of steps 1 to 4 in the flight simulator. With the flight simulator SEPHIR which was enhanced during the project an eminently suitable tool is available for research. Results of the project will be coherent operation procedures for both normal and failure cases and a robust concept for the control system. Based on that an integration into future aircraft is possible.

航空必须在未来大大减少其排放。长期以来，人们一直知道拯救力量时拯救力量的潜力，但仍未使用。使用此技术，飞机可以节省15-20％的燃料。尾随的飞机使用前面飞机的前风田来减少推力，从而减少燃油消耗。在几次飞行测试中，燃料减少了8-15％，例如在2013年7月，使用波音C-17运输飞机在长期巡航飞行段中成功证明了不同类型的飞机。这些航班是手动执行的，或使用实验性，相对简单的位置控制系统进行。在第一个项目阶段，可以证明使用运输飞机的紧密地层飞行 - 以下飞机的燃油减少了10％。提出了在自动操作中输入和维护构造的程序，并确认这是可行的。设计了控制系统及其设计方法的结构，这是一个控制系统，用于在上风场中寻求最佳位置，以稳健地针对涡旋轴变化。可以在飞行模拟器中演示自动层飞行。迄今为止，调查仅限于两架相同的飞机（同质地层）的地层，稳定，直轨道轨迹，并且仅限于没有故障的飞行。基于到目前为止所做的看法可以假定，可以假设地层飞行可以用于商业飞行操作中（假设H1）。预期的收益将证明开发必要的系统和程序所需的努力（H2）。飞机运营商和飞行员的广泛接受仍然缺失。仅当编队飞行不仅具有成本效益，而且安全可靠时，才能实现这一目标。 To achieve this, an automatic formation flight control system including sensors and displays, which is robust against parameter changes, as well as flight procedures that cover normal flight operations and failures are required (H3).The objective of the second project phase is to clarify, based on the working hypotheses H1 to H3, how and under which conditions the automatic formation flight - including heterogeneous formations - can be safely, efficiently, and comfortably performed so that it can be used in商业飞行操作。该研究将分为五个步骤：1）程序的定义，2）要求的表述，3）开发传感器和显示概念，4）控制系统的设计； 5）飞行模拟器中步骤1至4的评估。通过在项目期间增强的飞行模拟器Sephir，可以进行非常合适的工具进行研究。该项目的结果将是正常和故障案例的连贯操作程序，也是控制系统的强大概念。基于该集成到未来的飞机上是可能的。