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AirSTAR Hardware and Software Design for Beyond Visual Range Flight ResearchThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) is a facility developed to study the flight dynamics of vehicles in emergency conditions, in support of aviation safety research. The system was upgraded to have its operational range significantly expanded, going beyond the line of sight of a ground-based pilot. A redesign of the airborne flight hardware was undertaken, as well as significant changes to the software base, in order to provide appropriate autonomous behavior in response to a number of potential failures and hazards. Ground hardware and system monitors were also upgraded to include redundant communication links, including ADS-B based position displays and an independent flight termination system. The design included both custom and commercially available avionics, combined to allow flexibility in flight experiment design while still benefiting from tested configurations in reversionary flight modes. A similar hierarchy was employed in the software architecture, to allow research codes to be tested, with a fallback to more thoroughly validated flight controls. As a remotely piloted facility, ground systems were also developed to ensure the flight modes and system state were communicated to ground operations personnel in real-time. Presented in this paper is a general overview of the concept of operations for beyond visual range flight, and a detailed review of the airborne hardware and software design. This discussion is held in the context of the safety and procedural requirements that drove many of the design decisions for the AirSTAR UAS Beyond Visual Range capability.
Document ID
20160012037
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Laughter, Sean (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Cox, David (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
October 7, 2016
Publication Date
September 25, 2016
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Aircraft Stability And Control
Report/Patent Number
NF1676L-23763
Meeting Information
Meeting: Digital Avionics Systems Conference
Location: Sacramento, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: September 25, 2016
End Date: September 29, 2016
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 432938.11.01.07.42.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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