Fully distributed time-varying formation tracking control for multiple quadrotor vehicles via finite-time convergent extended state observer

This paper investigates a time-varying anti-disturbance formation problem for a group of quadrotor aircrafts with time-varying uncertainties and a directed interaction topology. A novel Finite-Time Convergent Extended State Observer (FTCESO) based fully-distributed formation control scheme is proposed to enhance the disturbance rejection and the formation tracking performances for networked quadrotors. By adopting the hierarchical control strategy, the multi-quadrotor system is separated into two subsystems: the outer-loop cooperative subsystem and the inner-loop attitude subsystem. In the outer-loop subsystem, with the estimation of disturbing forces and uncertain dynamics from FTCESOs, an adaptive consensus theory based cooperative controller is exploited to ensure the multiple quadrotors form and maintain a time-varying pattern relying only on the positions of the neighboring aircrafts. In the inner-loop subsystem, the desired attitude generated by the cooperative control law is stably tracked under a FTCESO-based attitude controller in a finite time. Based on a detailed algorithm to specify the cooperative control protocol, the feasibility condition to achieve the time-varying anti-disturbance formation tracking is derived and the rigorous analysis of the whole closed-loop multi-quadrotor system is given. Some numerical examples are conducted to intuitively demonstrate the effectiveness and the improvements of the proposed control framework.     

A survey of safety separation management and collision avoidance approaches of civil UAS operating in integration national airspace system

Recent years have witnessed a booming of the industry of civil Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). As an emerging industry, the UAS industry has been attracting great attention from governments of all countries and the aviation industry. UAS are highly digitalized, informationized, and intelligent; therefore, their integration into the national airspace system has become an important trend in the development of civil aviation. However, the complexity of UAS operation poses great challenges to the traditional aviation regulatory system and technical means. How to prevent collisions between UASs and between UAS and manned aircraft to achieve safe and efficient operation in the integrated operating airspace has become a common challenge for industry and academia around the world. In recent years, the international community has carried out a great amount of work and experiments in the air traffic management of UAS and some of the key technologies. This paper attempts to make a review of the UAS separation management and key technologies in collision avoidance in the integrated airspace, mainly focusing on the current situation of UAS Traffic Management (UTM), safety separation standards, detection system, collision risk prediction, collision avoidance, safety risk assessment, etc., as well as an analysis of the bottlenecks that the current researches encountered and their development trends, so as to provide some insights and references for further research in this regard. Finally, this paper makes a further summary of some of the research highlights and challenges.     

Fault mode probability factor based fault-tolerant control for dissimilar redundant actuation system

This paper presents a Fault Mode Probability Factor (FMPF) based Fault-Tolerant Control (FTC) strategy for multiple faults of Dissimilar Redundant Actuation System (DRAS) composed of Hydraulic Actuator (HA) and Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator (EHA). The long-term service and severe working conditions can result in multiple gradual faults which can ultimately degrade the system performance, resulting in the system model drift into the fault state characterized with parameter uncertainty. The paper proposes to address this problem by using the historical statistics of the multiple gradual faults and the proposed FMPF to amend the system model with parameter uncertainty. To balance the system model precision and computation time, a Moving Window (MW) method is used to determine the applied historical statistics. The FMPF based FTC strategy is developed for the amended system model where the system estimation and Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) are updated at the end of system sampling period. The simulations of DRAS system subjected to multiple faults have been performed and the results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

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.     

Review and propositions for the sliding/impact wear behavior in a contact interface

A thermal-solid-liquid complex operational environment induces structural interface developing a typical coupling sliding/impact wear behavior. It results in contact damage until systems fail, which may cause significant economic losses and catastrophic consequences. The key point of solving this problem is to reveal the coupling damage mechanism of the sliding/impact behavior in typical systems and life characterization under a complicate evolving environment. This has been a hot topic in the area of mechanical reliability. The main work in this paper can be concluded as follows. Firstly, the main industries in which the “sliding/impact behavior” takes place have been introduced. Then, existing studies on the wear mechanism and degree analysis are presented, which includes surface morphology analysis, wear debris analysis, and wear degree measurement. Meanwhile, existing problems in theoretical modeling and experiments in current research are summarized, so as to point out a bright direction for future research on wear prediction. They include interface contact modeling, mathematic coupling mechanism modeling, wear equation establishment, and wear life characterization, which can provide some new ideas for improving the existing studies on the sliding/impact wear behavior.     

An innovative approach for integrated airline network and aircraft family optimization

The determination of optimal aerial transport networks and their associated flight frequencies is crucial for the strategic planning of airlines, as well as for carrying out market research, to establish target markets, and for aircraft and crew rostering. In addition, optimum airplane types for the selected networks are crucial to improve revenue and to provide reduced operating costs. The present study proposes an innovative approach to determine the optimal aerial transport network simultaneously with the determination of the optimum fleet for that network, composed of three types of airplanes (network and vehicle integrated design). The network profit is maximized. The passenger’s demands between the airports are determined via a gravitational model. An embedded linear programming solution is responsible for obtaining potential optimal network configurations. The optimum fleet combination is determined from a database of candidate aircraft designs via genetic algorithm. A truly realistic airplane representation is made possible thanks to accurate surrogate models for engine and aerodynamics is adopted. An accurate engine deck encompassing a compression map and an innovative engine weight calculation besides an aerodynamical artificial neural network module enable a high degree of accuracy for the mission analysis. The proposed methodology is applied to obtain the optimum network comprised of twenty main Brazilian airports and corresponding fleet.     

最坏风模型及对飞机突防航迹跟踪的影响

针对一类非线性动力学系统,本文推导出二次型性能指标下的微分对策解,由此得到一组含有非线性因素的最环风模型,这一模型特别适用于研究作空间机动飞行的飞机受外界环境扰动的灵敏性问题。最后考察了这一变化风场对飞机突防航迹非线性解耦跟踪的影响。     

电液位置伺服系统的动态试验研究

本文研究了快速响应的电液位置伺服系统动态试验,着重讨论了在实践中如何选择伪随机二位式最大长度序列(PRBS)参数的问陋,并提出快速响应系统PRBS参数选择的原则,使系统辨识精度提高约15％。     

关于疲劳裂纹扩展数学模型的参数寻优

本文通过引入工程设计中的优化方法，分别对室内空气环境下铝合金（ＬＹ１２－ＣＺ）材料疲劳裂纹扩展的数学模型，以及环境条件下（３．５％ＮａＣｌ水溶液浸泡）该材料腐蚀疲劳裂纹扩展的数学模型进行了探讨。在已知标准试样在不同的环境下疲劳裂纹扩展实验ｄａｄＮｉ，ΔＫｉ的条件下，采用优化方法进行参数寻优，可方便地得到与其对应的疲劳裂纹扩展的ｄａｄＮ～ΔＫ最优数学模型     

质量矩导弹的神经网络及自适应非线性控制

本文对质量矩控制导弹的动力学方程简化和控制系统的设计进行了研究。详细阐述了所提出的控制方法，介绍了径向基单隐层神经网络进行误差补偿的算法原理，用Lyapunov理论证明了所采用方法的稳定性。在给出了质量矩导弹的六自由度动力学方程和简化后的方程后，用所提出的方法设计控制系统。通过仿真分析，得出了本文所提出的方法具有较好的误差补偿能力的结论。