Integrated system design for vertical takeoff-landing of small unmanned aerial vehicles

摘要

Due to the advancements in autonomous units, more small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAV's) are being utilized to accomplish commercial missions. Fixed wing, vertical takeoff-landing (FW-VTOL) sUAV's have been developed to provide similar flight performance characteristics in comparison to fixed wing or multi-copter sUAV's. The hybrid fixed-wing aircrafts offer significant usability and safety advantages over its rival systems. These aircrafts can be deployed in a slow and controlled manner off a vessel or in a small remote location. This is an alternative method that can be used instead of launching the aircraft using conventional high-speed long runways, nets or catapults. Unlike private aircrafts these small vehicles are not as strictly regulated, whether it is the certification of design or the pilot's flight hours and endorsements. A formalized safety system for FW-VTOL sUAV's must be integrated with all autonomous units in order to adhere to similar aircraft safety requirements. The proposed Integrated Flight Safety Plan (IFSP) has been modeled in a finite-state machine to consider all possible events of the unit during flight. These system conditions and criteria allow for the unit to react to internal failures and external changes, autonomously, and acutely control the outcome with bystander safety as a primary consideration. The formal verification and checking of the IFSP model can be tested using an abstract simulation. A predetermined mission replicate is repeatedly tested, based on approximate probabilistic events, to assess the effectiveness of the model adapting during flights that contain one or more system failures.