Flight control investigation using a 3D-printed radio-controlled demonstrator

Abstract

In the Swedish national aeronautical research program, the project: Flight Control Subscale Flight Testing, it is investigating how to use 3D-printed flying demonstrators for testing of new and innovative flight control laws. The aim of this project is to show that it is possible to test new technologies, quickly and at low cost for aeronautical engineering purposes. This can lead to the possibility to explore many different ideas early on during the concept phase of an aircraft. The timing is right since Sweden is looking into designing the next generation fighter. But green civil aviation programs could benefit from this type of design initiative. The work being done in Sweden in the field of subscale flight testing have caught the interest from international groups and a NATO project has shown interest in using subscale flight to test different control law solutions. To design the control laws a simulation environment is developed that can used together with the same hardware as is installed in the flying demonstrator. Validation and verification can then be done in this simulation environment to test the control laws before incorporating these into the actual flying demonstrator. This makes it possible to secure a seamless and quick integration of the control laws before flight testing. First flight is in 2025, first without a control law implemented to see that the 3D-printed demonstrator behaves as expected. Later, flight with several other control laws will be done.