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Course detail: Taking the Pilot out of the Cockpit is a Big Deal!
In the world of Unmanned Aerial Systems (including pilotless air taxi "drones"), not having a pilot physically on board the aircraft is problematic at best, and could be hazardous.
Without a pilot on board, everything a pilot normally does (situation-based responses) must be pre-programmed into the vehicle (rule-based responses). As a result, if something unexpected occurs, such as an unanticipated failure state, an anomalous vehicle upset due to something like wind shear, or conflicting traffic that could result in a mid-air collision, then the on-board software must be agile and complex enough to respond accordingly. This means essentially taking what is in your head as a human and putting it into a computer without making any mistakes and accounting for all "what if" conditions.
This problem becomes even more acute when flight testing these vehicles. In addition to the challenges already noted above, during flight test:
This webinar was held on August 21, 2019.
To view the recording of this webinar, visit: https://jayhawkglobal.ku.edu/aero-webinars
Without a pilot on board, everything a pilot normally does (situation-based responses) must be pre-programmed into the vehicle (rule-based responses). As a result, if something unexpected occurs, such as an unanticipated failure state, an anomalous vehicle upset due to something like wind shear, or conflicting traffic that could result in a mid-air collision, then the on-board software must be agile and complex enough to respond accordingly. This means essentially taking what is in your head as a human and putting it into a computer without making any mistakes and accounting for all "what if" conditions.
This problem becomes even more acute when flight testing these vehicles. In addition to the challenges already noted above, during flight test:
- All data must be obtained via "instrumentation. We no longer have the supplemental information provided by an on-board observer.
- All flight test unique maneuvers must be pre-programmed and are usually up-linked to the vehicle. Some of these maneuvers are designed to evaluate the open loop response of the vehicle which is counter intuitive to closed loop computer-controlled system design logic.
This webinar was held on August 21, 2019.
To view the recording of this webinar, visit: https://jayhawkglobal.ku.edu/aero-webinars
