A comprehensive survey on the methods of angle of attack measurement and estimation in UAVs

Angle of Attack (AOA) is a crucial parameter which directly affects the aerodynamic forces of an aircraft. The measurement of AOA is required to ensure a safe flight within its designed flight envelop. This paper intends to summarise a comprehensive survey on the measurement techniques and estimation methods for AOA, specifically in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications. In the case of UAVs, weight constraint plays a major role as far as sensor suites are concerned. This results in selecting a suitable estimation method to extract AOA using the available data from the autopilot. The most feasible and widely employed AOA measurement technique is by using the Multi-Hole Probes (MHPs). The MHP measures the AOA regarding the pressure variations between the ports. Due to the importance of MHP in AOA measurement, the calibration methods for the MHP are also included in this paper. This paper discusses the AOA measurement using virtual AOA sensors, their importance and the operation.     

A progressive approach to predict shot peening process parameters for forming integral panel of Al7050-T7451

In this paper, a progressive approach to predict the multiple shot peening process parameters for complex integral panel is proposed. Firstly, the invariable parameters in the forming process including shot size, mass flow, peening distance and peening angle are determined according to the empirical and machine type. Then, the optimal value of air pressure for the whole shot peening is selected by the experimental data. Finally, the feeding speed for every shot peening path is predicted by regression equation. The integral panel part with thickness from 2 mm to 5 mm and curvature radius from 3200 mm to 16000 mm is taken as a research object, and four experiments are conducted. In order to design specimens for acquiring the forming data, one experiment is conducted to compare the curvature radius of the plate and stringer-structural specimens, which were peened along the middle of the two stringers. The most striking finding of this experiment is that the outer shape error range is below 3.9%, so the plate specimens can be used in predicting feeding speed of the integral panel. The second experiment is performed and results show that when the coverage reaches the limit of 80%, the minimum feeding speed is 50 mm/s. By this feeding speed, the forming curvature radius of the specimens with different thickness from the third experiment is measured and compared with the research object, and the optimal air pressure is 0.15 MPa. Then, the plate specimens with thickness from 2 mm to 5 mm are peened in the fourth experiment, and the measured curvature radius data are used to calculate the feeding speed of different shot peening path by regressive analysis method. The algorithm is validated by forming a test part and the average deviation is 0.496 mm. It is shown that the approach can realize the forming of the integral panel precisely.     

导航卫星中断频次的分析方法

面向导航卫星中断频次的定量分析需求,该文分析导航卫星中断产生的主要原因,给出中断频次分析的流程,并针对分析过程中的三个关键问题,研究提出具体实施方法,包括通过相关性分析快速定位底层中断事件,通过中断树建立指标分析模型,并融合在轨数据、地面试验数据快速预估得到底层功能异常率等。最后通过示例进一步说明中断频次分析过程。该文方法已应用于北斗导航卫星工程。     

星载激光通信终端在轨机动对温度影响

对激光通信终端在轨瞬态温度变化开展了仿真，以期研究在轨机动的影响、热分析和热试验时机动模式的简化模拟。通过合理地分析与简化，建立终端的轨道热分析模型，准确模拟在轨机动，根据典型机动模式、外热流和涂层退化等因素设计了计算工况，得出了终端在轨运行过程中的温度场随时间和姿态变化规律。结果表明：不同机动模式下的温度变化存在差异，最大可达23.0℃，采用固定姿态或一维转动的简化热分析或热试验不能准确模拟实际飞行温度，甚至不能部分替代二维转动热分析或热试验；光学天线和反射镜的温度控制是制约终端工作的瓶颈，为终端设计合适的避光机动策略，可大幅度提高温度稳定度和均匀度。研究结果可以为光机电设备在轨机动策略的设计和改进提供参考。     

Modeling the effects of green alternative on heat island mitigation of a meso level town,West Bengal,India

Urban heat island (UHI) is emerged as a ubiquitous phenomenon that affects the outdoor thermal comfort. Hence urban microclimatic studies using numeric simulation software to find out adaption strategies are attracting the great attention of researchers and policymaker. Number of scientists carried out their research on this topic using different tools and technique whereas ENVI-met model is the most widely used simulation tools. The present study intended to examine the implication of green infrastructure of the town on enhanced microclimatic condition and to evaluate the best suitable mitigation strategy modelling cool city with ENVI-met software (V4). Five greening condition such as existing UHI condition (C1), 100% greening of roof (C2), 100% greening of roof and walls (C3), 50% greening of roof and walls (C4) and: Plantation at suitable area with 50% greening of roof and walls (C5) have been taken into consideration for the microclimate simulation for all three selected sites. Among these five conditions, C3 for the open mid-rise and compact low-rise, C5 for the open low-rise are identified as one of the most suitable strategies which can reduce the air temperature of peak hours by 2.6 °C, 1.33 °C and 1.87 °C respectively. These models are validated by simple linear regression between simulated and existing air temperature in case of existing UHI condition (C1) and in all the cases coefficient of determination value is high such as for open mid-rise, compact low-rise and open low-rise, it is 0.92, 0.92 and 0.75 respectively. Therefore it can be concluded that the application of those strategies can improve the urban thermal environment as well as the outdoor thermal comfort of English bazaar Town and its surroundings.     

热防护材料高温异型传感器校准技术研究

高温异型传感器广泛应用在热防护材料研究领域，因其测温部分比通用温度传感器尺寸短，现有的校准装置无法满足该类传感器的校准需求。针对高温异型传感器无法校准的问题，提出了一种应用专用高温恒温炉、基于比较法的校准方法，研制了高温异型传感器校准装置，实现了该类温度传感器的量值溯源，并进行了不确定度分析。     

Topology optimization in lightweight design of a 3D-printed flapping-wing micro aerial vehicle

Topology optimization is an effective method to obtain a lightweight structure that meets the requirements of structural strength. Whether the optimization results meet the actual needs mainly depends on the accuracy of the material properties and the boundary conditions, especially for a tiny Flapping-wing Micro Aerial Vehicle (FMAV) transmission system manufactured by 3D printing. In this paper, experimental and numerical computation efforts were undertaken to gain a reliable topology optimization method for the bottom of the transmission system. First, the constitutive behavior of the ultraviolet (UV) curable resin used in fabrication was evaluated. Second, a numerical computation model describing further verified via experiments. Topology optimization modeling considering nonlinear factors, e.g. contact, friction and collision, was presented, and the optimization results were verified by both dynamic simulation and experiments. Finally, detailed discussions on different load cases and constraints were presented to clarify their effect on the optimization. Our methods and results presented in this paper may shed light on the lightweight design of a FMAV.     

Accurate approximation of in-ecliptic trajectories for E-sail with constant pitch angle

Propellantless continuous-thrust propulsion systems, such as electric solar wind sails, may be successfully used for new space missions, especially those requiring high-energy orbit transfers. When the mass-to-thrust ratio is sufficiently large, the spacecraft trajectory is characterized by long flight times with a number of revolutions around the Sun. The corresponding mission analysis, especially when addressed within an optimal context, requires a significant amount of simulation effort. Analytical trajectories are therefore useful aids in a preliminary phase of mission design, even though exact solution are very difficult to obtain. The aim of this paper is to present an accurate, analytical, approximation of the spacecraft trajectory generated by an electric solar wind sail with a constant pitch angle, using the latest mathematical model of the thrust vector. Assuming a heliocentric circular parking orbit and a two-dimensional scenario, the simulation results show that the proposed equations are able to accurately describe the actual spacecraft trajectory for a long time interval when the propulsive acceleration magnitude is sufficiently small.     

Mapping mean lake surface from satellite altimetry and GPS kinematic surveys

Lake water height is a key variable in water cycle and climate change studies, which is achievable using satellite altimetry constellation. A method based on data processing of altimetry from several satellites has been developed to interpolate mean lake surface (MLS) over a set of 22 big lakes distributed on the Earth. It has been applied on nadir radar altimeters in Low Resolution Mode (LRM: Jason-3, Saral/AltiKa, CryoSat-2) in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mode (Sentinel-3A), and in SAR interferometric (SARin) mode (CryoSat-2), and on laser altimetry (ICESat). Validation of the method has been performed using a set of kinematic GPS height profiles from 18 field campaigns over the lake Issykkul, by comparison of altimetry’s height at crossover points for the other lakes and using the laser altimetry on ICESat-2 mission. The precision reached ranges from 3 to 7 cm RMS (Root Mean Square) depending on the lakes. Currently, lake water level inferred from satellite altimetry is provided with respect to an ellipsoid. Ellipsoidal heights are converted into orthométric heights using geoid models interpolated along the satellite tracks. These global geoid models were inferred from geodetic satellite missions coupled with absolute and regional anomaly gravity data sets spread over the Earth. However, the spatial resolution of the current geoid models does not allow capturing short wavelength undulations that may reach decimeters in mountaineering regions or for rift lakes (Baikal, Issykkul, Malawi, Tanganika). We interpolate in this work the geoid height anomalies with three recent geoid models, the EGM2008, XGM2016 and EIGEN-6C4d, and compare them with the Mean Surface of 22 lakes calculated using satellite altimetry. Assuming that MLS mimics the local undulations of the geoid, our study shows that over a large set of lakes (in East Africa, Andean mountain and Central Asia), short wavelength undulations of the geoid in poorly sampled areas can be derived using satellite altimetry. The models used in this study present very similar geographical patterns when compared to MLS. The precision of the models largely depends on the location of the lakes and is about 18 cm, in average over the Earth. MLS can serve as a validation dataset for any future geoid model. It will also be useful for validation of the future mission SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) which will measure and map water heights over the lakes with a high horizontal resolution of 250 by 250 m.