Actions for Applications of Pilot Modelling to Rotorcraft Flight Simulation Development

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Applications of Pilot Modelling to Rotorcraft Flight Simulation Development

Author
Hendrick, Christopher
Published
[University Park, Pennsylvania] : Pennsylvania State University, 2020.
Physical Description
1 electronic document
Additional Creators
Horn, Joseph Francis
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Open Access.
Summary
The behavior and capability of the human pilot is central to the development of manned aviation vehicles. Thus, mathematical models of the human pilot are desirable for a multitude of applications, several of which are explored in this thesis. The first application discussed here is the study of pilot utilization of motion cues. Understanding how pilot control behavior changes with motion cue magnitude is crucial to optimizing motion cueing algorithms, especially when using smaller motion systems with limited leg travel. For this purpose, a single-axis sum of sines (SOS) tracking task was conducted with a simple transfer function aircraft model, with the magnitude of motion cues varied from test to test. A hybrid particle swarm Levenberg-Marquardt-Fletcher (PS-LMF) identification algorithm is developed, and pilot models are extracted from test data in order to study changes in pilot control behavior. The second application is the study of aircraft handling qualities. Chapter 2 gives a brief study of the correlation between identified pilot model parameters and handling qualities ratings (HQRs) to show the potential for applying physiological measurements to HQR assessment. In these tests, a full nonlinear simulation model of a compound rotorcraft with a dynamic inversion controller is used in a SOS tracking task. The aircraft controller bandwidth is varied to provide different handling qualities and the PS-LMF algorithm is used to identify pilot model parameters. The third application is flight simulation development, where a reliable pilot model can be of value for a variety of reasons. Such reasons include expediting development due to a reduced reliance on piloted simulation tests, prediction of pilot workload, reduced cost, and the generation of reproducible results. For this purpose, a pilot model is developed for a multi-axis hover task, where the pilot is attempting to hold a hover in a turbulent airwake. This task is of interest as it is representative of the dynamic interface problem, which refers to the turbulent conditions experienced in near ship operation of rotorcraft. The model is developed through an inverse dynamics technique and nonlinear elements are added in the collective and pedal input channels. The results are compared to flight test data, and the model shows potential as a valuable development tool.
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Dissertation Note
M.S. Pennsylvania State University 2020.
Technical Details
The full text of the dissertation is available as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file ; Adobe Acrobat Reader required to view the file.
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