Analysis of Pilot Interaction with the Control Adapting System for UAV

Abstract

The control surfaces failures significantly reduce the maneuverability of the aircraft. The problem may appear in every flying platform, and its consequences can lead to a serious accident. To counteract the aircraft’s lower maneuverability, the adaptive system could be added. That is why, a reconfiguration of unmanned aircraft flight control system was a subject of research project. The developed system uses the other control surfaces and engine to take over scope of stuck control surface. One of the system validation test involved human operators to recognize their reactions while the system is active. The test was performed with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight simulator with implemented reconfiguration algorithm. The paper presents the results of an experiment during which the various configuration and failures were tested. A group of UAV operators repeated a simple maneuver task—slalom, under different failure settings. To assess the system and operators’ workload during the test, a subjective assessment was done. The Cooper-Harper, Bedford scales, and overall workload questionnaires were used. To get a full spectrum of the operators’ responses to the reconfiguration system, the objective evaluation was also done. The UAV flight parameters (velocities, accelerations, and position) were registered automatically during the flight tests. Based on those data, the quality index of each flight was generated, providing the objective flight performance assessment.