Flight Test of the Autonomous Take Off and Landing Functions of the SHARC Technology Demonstrator

Simone Duranti, Saab Aerosystems, Linköping, Sweden
Viktor Malmfors, Saab Aerosystems, Linköping, Sweden

Abstract

The Saab’s unmanned technology demonstrator SHARC has completed in August 2004 a third flight test campaign, at the NEAT test range, in northern Sweden. For the first time the SHARC conduced fully autonomous missions, including Autonomous Take Off and Landing (ATOL).

The focus of the test campaign has been in verifying the newly developed ATOL functionalities. Simulator and Hardware-In-the-Loop test sessions paved the way to flight testing. The importance of reliable dynamic models has been once more highlighted. Ground roll dynamic and ground effect aerodynamic models had been refined ad-hoc in order to predict the behaviour of the aircraft during the critical phases of rotation and touch down.

In preparation to the flight test campaign, ground rolls have for the first time been performed at the Saab’s flight test centre in Linköping. The flight test campaign has been fully successful. The autonomous landing functionality is operationally invaluable, since it lowers the risks embedded in manual remote piloting during high-gain tasks.

A number of specific functionalities had been designed into the avionics to allow safe and effective flight testing of the new capabilities; most of them regarded the possibility of the UAV operator to condition the behaviour of the aircraft in order to limit the authority of the onboard autonomy.