Design and integration of a Flight Management System for the unmanned air vehicle FROG
By: Timothy C. Rivers
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School; Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Monterey, Calif; Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 92
Description: The purpose of this thesis is to design, integrate and flight test a Flight Management System (FMS) for the computer control of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV). By combining modern control design techniques and the capabilities of a Rapid Prototyping System (RPS), we were able to safely go from concept to flight test in a      relatively short amount of time without sacrificing thoroughness in computer simulation, code validation and verification, or hardware-in-the-loop ground testing. This ability to quickly field new or modified flight control      systems for UAV's is of ever increasing importance as Department of Defense places greater emphasis on the use of UAV's in widely varying mission areas. The primary focus of this thesis is on the design and testing of a heading controller. However, to fully integrate this into the FMS, the research and testing includes airspeed and altitude controllers designed by previous thesis students. Also included as part of the implementation process, is a thorough sensor evaluation to ensure the controller inputs are adequate to support the FMS. The design and test equipment include a highly modified FROG UAV from the U.S. Army, the MATRIX Product Family of software tools developed by Integrated Systems, Inc., and a Ground Station built at NPS from commercially available computer and communication equipment.
Notes: "December 1998."

Thesis advisor(s): Isaac I. Kaminer.

Thesis (Degree of Aeronautical Engineer) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1998.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 89)

Approved for public release; distribution unlimited.

Also available online.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat reader.

US Navy (USN) author.

dk/dk cc:9116 12/3/98.