Autonomous flight and navigation of VTOL UAVs: from autonomy demonstrations to out-of-sight flights

Future applications of UAV systems will depend on the aircraft autonomous behavior and decision capabilities. Search and Rescue is one complex possible mission and is here taken as a case study. The ReSSAC project is a multidisciplinary project at ONERA. Its main challenges are related to the architectures and algorithms for autonomous decision and information processing onboard UAVs that perform their mission in cooperation with operators. The feasibility demonstrations and results of the project are intended to be reused and extended in further studies, projects and collaborations. A first step of the project was to develop an autonomous control architecture for our two rotorcraft. In this paper, we present the current status and preliminary achievements of the ReSSAC project, especially some records of past experimental flights with our autonomous aircraft. We further discuss ongoing studies and research perspectives.     

Influence of freezing rate oscillations and convection on eutectic microstructure

As discussed in our review paper (Wilcox, W. R. and Regel, L. L., Microgravity Quarterly, 1994, 4, 147–156), the influence of microgravity on eutectic microstructure has been rather erratic and largely unexplained. Directional solidification in microgravity sometimes coarsened the structure, sometimes made it finer, and sometimes, even on the same system, had no measurable effect. Theoretical models predicted no influence of the weak buoyancy-driven convection that occurs in the vertical Bridgman technique on earth. Thus, we hypothesized that freezing rate fluctuations due to irregular convection might be responsible. For example, with a fibrous microstructure an increase in freezing rate must cause new fibers to form, either by branching or by nucleation. A decrease in freezing rate would cause fibers to terminate by overgrowth of the matrix phase. If the kinetics of fiber formation differs from that for fiber termination, an oscillatory freezing rate would cause the average fiber spacing to deviate from that at a steady freezing rate. We have been investigating this hypothesis both experimentally and theoretically. Vertical Bridgman experiments were performed on the MnBi–Bi eutectic with freezing rate oscillations caused by periodic electric current pulses passed through the material. With increased current amplitude, more and more grains exhibited irregular microstructures. Of the grains with continued quasi-regular rod structure, the microstructure became finer. This result was contrary to that expected from our hypothesis for this system. Numerical modeling also predicted that an oscillatory freezing rate should yield a finer microstructure. It was also predicted that freezing interface oscillations should cause the average melt composition at the freezing rate to deviate from the eutectic. This results in the formation of a composition boundary layer of sufficient thickness that it would become sensitive to convection. Hence we have arrived at a revised hypothesis. On earth, irregular convection causes freezing rate fluctuations that change the interfacial melt composition, leading to a thick composition boundary layer. Convection interacts with this boundary layer to change the interfacial melt composition, thereby altering the response of the system to freezing rate fluctuations.     

双输出移相配电变压器抑制输出电压畸变特性

探讨了双输出移相配电变压器抑制输出电压畸变的机理,对变压器谐波阻抗与绕组结构之间的关系进行了研究。通过建立双输出移相变压器的场路耦合模型,对两种不同形式的变压器(双输出移相变压器和Dyn连接变压器)输出电压的谐波特性进行了分析计算,研究结果表明:由于双输出移相变压器可以抑制3倍次、5和7次谐波电流,因此对应的3倍次、5和7次谐波阻抗较低,在带非线性负载情况下输出电压的畸变得到明显改善。     

C/SiC材料在模拟空天往返条件下的可重复使用性能评估

针对飞行器空天往返、多次使用的发展需求,以2D C/SiC材料为对象,选择开放大气模拟环境、800 ℃温度条件开展了常/高温拉伸试验、以及常温→高温→降温循环变化历程下拉-拉疲劳的耦合试验,得到不同的力学性能规律,分析了影响材料表面涂层完整性的控制因素及转化点。表明C/SiC材料具有优良的高温静态持续强度性能,但在常-高温循环变化历程下的疲劳性能明显衰减。采用剩余刚度衰减模型,提出了力-热-氧耦合时考虑常-高温循环历程影响因素、以及氧化尺寸效应影响的疲劳剩余性能评估方法。     

一种用于飞机试验台的三分力传感器

多分力载荷传感器是一种常用的传感器,但通常当各分力的量程相差太大时难以取得良好的效果。提出了一种新型传感器结构形式,减少了各分力之间的耦合,使得在各分力量程不匹配的情况下亦可获得较高的测量精度。     

星箭连接界面处环形分布动载荷识别

提出一种基于卫星结构响应的环形分布动载荷识别方法。首先基于脉冲响应函数，在时域内构建激励与响应之间的传递关系；进一步，利用B样条函数表示动载荷的环形分布函数，并结合卫星结构有限元模型和结构测点加速度响应，识别了动载荷的分布函数及其时间历程。以某卫星模型开展数值仿真研究，结果表明：在不同噪声水平，响应测点数以及B样条控制点数的情况下，本文所提出的方法能够准确识别卫星结构所受分布动载荷。本文方法能够为实际飞行情况下卫星载荷环境评估提供理论支撑。     

脱硫石膏基复合胶凝材料的物理力学性能试验

以β型脱硫石膏为基材,混掺水泥、粉煤灰和硅灰等胶凝材料,加入自制的专用改性外加剂,制备脱硫石膏基复合胶凝材料,测试分析原料组分、水胶比和养护方式对脱硫石膏基复合胶凝材料性能的影响,通过SEM和XRD测试手段探讨其强度形成及耐水机理。试验结果表明:水泥掺量为20%、粉煤灰掺量为25%和水胶比为0.7时的脱硫石膏基复合胶凝材料综合性能优良,其28 d抗压强度为12.1 MPa,吸水率为17.6%,软化系数为0.81;二水石膏晶体形成的第一支撑骨架和以钙矾石和C―S―H凝胶等形成的第二支撑骨架相互补充,提高了脱硫石膏基复合胶凝材料结构的致密性和耐水性。     

Decentralized sliding-mode control for spacecraft attitude synchronization under actuator failures

This paper examines attitude synchronization and tracking problems with model uncertainties, external disturbances, actuator failures and control torque saturation. Two decentralized sliding mode control laws are proposed and analyzed based on algebraic graph theory. Using Barbalat׳s Lemma, it is shown that the control laws guarantee each spacecraft approaches the desired time-varying attitude and angular velocity while maintaining attitude synchronization among the other spacecraft in the formation. The first controller is designed in the presence of model uncertainties, external disturbances, and actuator failures. The results are extended to the case with control input saturation in the second controller. Both control laws do not require online identification of failures. Numerical simulations are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed attitude synchronization and tracking approaches.     

蒸汽压缩式制冷系统在航空中的应用

通过对空气压缩式、蒸汽压缩式、热电制冷3种制冷系统的比较，提出蒸汽压缩式制冷系统是最适合应用于制冷量需求较大的航空电子设备，并着重介绍了蒸汽压缩式制冷系统的工作原理、关键技术及其优越性。     

无人集群系统行为决策学习奖励机制

未来作战的发展方向是由多智能体系统构成的无人集群系统通过智能体之间自主协同来完成作战任务。由于每个智能体自主采取行为和改变状态，增加了智能群体行为策略训练的不稳定性。通过先验约束条件和智能体间的同构特性增强奖励信号的实时性，提高训练效率和学习的稳定性。采用动作空间边界碰撞惩罚、智能体间时空距离约束满足程度奖励；通过智能体在群体中的关系特性，增加智能体之间经验共享，进一步优化学习效率。在实验中，将先验增强的奖励机制和经验共享应用到多智能体深度确定性策略梯度（MADDPG）算法中验证其有效性。结果表明，学习收敛性和稳定性有大幅提高，从而提升了无人集群系统行为学习效率。