AUTOPILOT SMF 3252

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TITLE OBJECTIVE

: :

AUTOPILOT To investigate the autopilot system in aircraft To know the function of autopilot To know the characteristics of autopilot system To know overall about the autopilot weather for the military aircraft or commercial aircraft

BACKGROUND

The autopilot is the system which furnishes the muscles to move the control, which in turn, position the aircraft in space. The autopilot is not always a luxury. In military aircraft, which are often extremely fast and maneuverable, pilot reaction time may be inadequate. It is then a necessarily to damp out the fast oscillations which may occur along any axis. Anyone who has flown with one of these wonders for any length of time can appreciate their value in decreasing pilot fatigue. They allow the pilot a break from continuous hand flying, providing time to handle other cockpit duties. Helpful when VFR, an autopilot really pays off when flying single pilot IFR or when flying a large, complex aircraft. Advanced avionics system main mission is to stabilize and navigate the UAV without human operator intervention. This is conducted with the integrated autopilot system, the low level control. Besides this, telemetry communication, payload data signal processing and transferring operations are handled within the avionics system. It has the capability to transform all types of tactical mini range fixed wing planes to fly without a need for a pilot. DEFINATION OF AUTOPILOT :

An autopilot is a mechanical, electrical, or hydraulic system used to guide a vehicle without assistance from a human being. Most people
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understand an autopilot to refer specifically to aircraft, but self-steering gear for ships and boats is sometimes also called by this term. RESEARCH ASPECT Fundamental / principles of autopilot Part of autopilot Autopilot systems - Boeing 747 Flight Control Autopilot Modern of autopilot EDO Aire Mitchell Systems No followup Control Systems Fluidics Smith SEP 6 Autopilot

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The first aircraft autopilot was developed by Sperry Corporation in 1912. Lawrence Sperry is a Son of famous inventor Elmer Sperry was demonstrated it two years later in 1914, and proved his credibility of the invention, by flying the plane with his hands up. The autopilot connected a gyroscopic attitude indicator and magnetic compass to hydraulically operated rudder, elevator, and ailerons. It permitted the aircraft to fly straight and level on a compass course without a pilot's attention, thus covering more than 80% of the pilot's total workload on a typical flight. This straight-and-level autopilot is still the most common, least expensive and most trusted type of autopilot. It also has the lowest pilot error, because it has the simplest controls. In the early 1920s, the Standard Oil tanker J.A Moffet became the first ship to use autopilot.

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SERVOSYSTEM FUNDAMENTALS
Any servo system operates on the same basic principles of autopilot. There is some kind of comparator unit at the input through which a positive or negative input signal can be compared with a feedback signal or opposite polarity. For example the exact cancellation of the input will occur when the output element, the rudder, elevator, or airplane itself is doing exactly what the input signal commanded it to do. If place the airplane in a turn, the feedback from the rudder will begin to cancel the input when the rudder is turned far enough to start the airplane turning, but complete cancellation will not take place until the airplane is turning fast enough to make the required turn in the required time. If the airplane tends to turn too fast, the rate gyro signal changes polarity and slows down the turn. For example yaw damping maybe selected by a switch on the autopilot control panel.

AXIS AUTOPILOT
A block diagram for a 3 axis system used in the trident aircraft. Note the use of the computer-amplifier before the servomotors and examine the feedback loops. The system in the diagram also has a mach (speed) hold system, which works like the cruise control on some automobiles.

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APPROACH TO GLIDE PATH

The airplane is steered so that angles and are reduced to zero at some distance d from the runway as designed by the transmitter. The angular displacement can be converted into a distance l from center by the equations l = d tan . The l = d tan The rate at which l is decreasing is given by l = a sin Where a equals approach velocity. So the pilot knows is approaching the centerline. A panel instrument will shows the deviation and can show to fast is approaching the beam center. He knows that if he keeps his approach rate at or below the present value, he will have a small transient, or oscillation, about the beam center then crosses it. If he tries to approach at a larger angle or faster rate, then he ill overshoot the beam center and a large transient ill occur. In addition to the panel, an aircraft ill have the selector type panel. Approach to the localizer beam, the pilot ill push the button marked VOR LOC to feed the input of the localizer receiver into the autopilot for automatic control of the airplane laterally.

SEP-6 THEORY OF OPERATION

The SEP-6 autopilot is an electromechanical system

providing flight stabilization and maneuver control in the three aircraft axes. Each computer has its own power supply, thus
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preventing a single power failure from rendering the whole system inoperative. This has the advantages of allowing splitaxis operation as well as independent yaw damping. The SEP-6 autopilot operates on a rate-rate principle in which control surface rates are mode proportional to aircraft disturbance rate. Rate gyros in the three control axes are used to detect aircraft disturbances and the resulting electrical signals are amplified to drive the electromechanical servomotors for short-term stabilization in pitch, roll and yaw. In addition to short-term stabilization, attitudes changes can be demanded to maneuver the aircraft in pitch and roll. The maneuver commands are converted to rate commands which are fed to the appropriate servomotor, together with long-term stabilization signals derived from the attitude reference system and various mode sensors. Any resultant standing errors and long term data shifts are compensated by integration. The SEP-6 achieves all commanded functions by pitch and roll axis control. This means that directional control is maintained by ailerons throughout all flight maneuvers. Provision is made to feed an aileron signal into yaw channel for turn coordination. The pitch channel also provides signals to control a separate trim servomotor which can be fitted to the aircrafts trim system. Autopilot operates in some detail the pitch, roll and yaw channel. PITCH CHANNEL 1. Function of pitch channel
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a) This channel provides pitch stabilization by operating the aircraft controls and pitch trim pitch in response to attitude and attitude rate signals. 2. Short term damping is derived from pitch and yaw rates, modified by the roll angle to produce the true pitch rate in the roll repeater module before being passed to the pitch shaping module. Maneuver demands are obtained from in inputs. 3. In the pitch shaping module, a pitch rate demand is computed from the pitch attitude demand and added to the true pitch rate signal, which has been phase advanced, it is also added to the balance integrator signal and the servo tachometer feedback signal. This combined signal is then the gain scheduled to suit the particular flight configuration, dependent on flap and airspeed conditions. The resultant control signal, passed to the servomotor, also produces a servo torque signal which is used to drive the trim servomotor via the trim servo amplifier. It also provides a trim signal to the pilots pitch trim indicator. 4. The glide coupling module computes a pitch demand signal from deviation information derived from the instrument landing system (ILS) radio receiver. A gain compensation circuit reduces the gain as a function of time following glide slope engagement. For category ll operation the glide signal is further reduced as a function of radio altitude and is supplement by a signal derived from pitch altitude. The pitch data chaser produces a pitch error signal, which is used as a pitch demand in the pitch attitude mode. The balance integrator produces an error signal, based on pitch attitude

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demand to compensate for long-term data drift within the channel. ROLL CHANNEL 1. Function of roll channel is: The roll channel stabilizes the aircraft about its roll axis and in azimuth by controlling the ailerons in response to the roll rate. It is also used to control the aircraft azimuth when fed with compass or radio deviation signals or manual control demands. 2. Short term damping information is derived by multiplying the yaw rate and the pitch angle and adding this to the sensed roll rate to provide a true roll rate signal. The roll channel contains a cutout to disengage it in case of excessive roll rate or roll attitude. 3. The demands signal is compared with bank angle, and the difference is fed as an error signal to the roll shaping module, which operates in the same manner as the pitch shaping module but with the demanded rill rate limited to 5 degree. 4. The control signal is amplified and passed to the servomotor. The servo amplifier also produces a torque signal to operate the pilots aileron trim indicator. 5. The heading data chaser produces a heading error signal from the compass which is used as a bank demand when in the heading mode.

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6. The localizer coupling module computes a bank demand signal which is a function of the localizer deviation signal and the rate of change of this signal. During the later stages of ILS interception, yaw rate is added to the signal, and the gain of the radio rate circuit is changed at glide slope engagement to obtain optimum performance during the final stages of the approach. The computation automatically provides wind drift correction. 7. Maneuver demands are derived from the autopilot controller, the heading data chaser, radio coupling modules, or the HSI. These demands are selected from the mode selector and having been limited in the roll switching module to provide a demand of either 10 degree or 30 degree are passed to the roll shaping module and the balance integrator, when the bank angle is less than 3 degree. 8. The VOR coupling module computes a bank demand signal from the localizer coupling module and from a course error signal from the HIS. In the later phases of interception, the course error signal is washed out, thus allowing the aircraft to take up a drift angle to offset crosswinds. The balance integrator operates in the same manner as was described for the pitch channel. YAW CHANNEL 1. The yaw channel of the Smith SEP-6- autopilot is a selfcontained yaw damper system which is: Maintains aircraft yaw stability and assist the roll channel during azimuth maneuvers so as to give full roll-yaw coordination.
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The yaw damper can be installed as a parallel or series system, depending on the type of aircraft and the principle of operation required. 2. The yaw channels are divided to two parts which is: Parallel yaw damper When the damper is in parallel, short term damping information is derived from yaw rate shaping module to produce a yaw rate demand signal which is added to the servomotor feedback signal. This control signal is amplifier in the servo amplifier, which drives the servomotor. The amplifier also produces a true signal, which operates the pilots yaw trim indicator. Aileron position information is fed to the yaw shaping module and backs off the shaped yaw rate term to insure that the rudder control does not oppose entry into turns. Also a lateral accelerometer produces a signal which acts as a monitor for the suppression of sideslip.

Series yaw damper When the damper is in series, the principle of operation is the same as when it is in parallel, except that a lateral accelerometer is not used, and the control signal is a position demand signal to the linear actuator. Actuator position information is fed back into the yaw shaping module in addition to rate feedback. This position signal is also fed to the pilots yaw trim indicator.

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AERODYNAMICS OSCILLATIONS
An aircraft in flight acts somewhat like a weathervane, which tries to turn to point in a new direction as the wind changes. The weathervane will oscillate, or swing back and forth, before finally settling down to a new direction. If the wind is gusty, then the oscillations continue indefinitely. This profile in the wind of a fan, turning it sideways to the airflow. The release it and watch it oscillate as it turns to point toward the airstreams. The real aircraft has two oscillation periods which is a long oscillation time as it veers back and forth across its flight path and the short time oscillation as it changes its instantaneous heading. A pilot can control the aircraft as long as oscillation time is longer than his reaction time. Some fighter aircraft have very fast oscillation times when the center of gravity approaches the center of wind pressure and so autopilot is required in order for the pilot to handle the aircraft. The autopilot controls the short period oscillation, and the pilot controls the long period oscillation, or the flight path. Under an aerodynamics oscillation there is damper. DAMPER The yaw damper is the part of the autopilot which smoothes out the short-period yaw oscillations. The pilot will have as its input some kind of reference, such as a gyroscope heading signal, and the yaw damper ill tend to keep the airplane
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pointed in the correct direction to follow this heading with the smallest possible oscillation about the airplanes vertical, or yaw, axis . The long term oscillation along the flight path, the weaving back and forth along the flight line, is usually under the control of the pilot in small aircraft. In large aircraft, it maybe autopilot controlled with a gyroscope reference, or it may be under the autopilot and pilots control. This kind of autopilot prevents short term oscillations by sensing the airplane movement and immediately moving the rudder to counteract them. An arrow a top the case indicates the direction of turn for which an output voltage is produced. Types of servomechanisms used in autopilot. The speed range is 5-5000rpm. The tachometer gradient is 4.6 V per 1000rpm. The servo actuator at B is a product of control technology, Inc. Its signal input is at 10V dc. The slew speed is 36/sec. The unit is designed for operation with power sources of 115V ac (400Hz) or 28V dc. At C is an Electro craft dc servo meter with a heavy duty gear head. The power is 1/20 hp and the torque 3-200 in lb for gearing ratios between 5:1 and 5000:1. The power input voltage is 28V. The tachometer gradient is a 4.6V per 1000rpm. YAW DAMPING (SINGLE AXIS) A dual channel system is incorporated to damp natural yaw oscillations on channel driving the top rudder section, the other the bottom. This redundancy insures safety in case of single failures or local structural damage. The damping signal to the rudder is series added to pilot controlled outputs, without causing rudder pedal movement. A

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transient turn coordination output is also produced. Each channel receives independently sensed information: a) b) c) d) e) The variables sensed are roll altitude from the inertial navigation system. True airspeed from the central air data computers. Yaw rate from integral rate gyros. A ground only confidence checks tests the electronics and actuators. Test response is shown on the rudder position indicator. Fault isolation testing is also provided. The following list states the capabilities: Yaw damping (single axis) Full time For manual of power operated flying controls Series or parallel systems as required Rotary or linear actuator available

Pitch and roll autopilot (two axes) Pitch and roll stabilization Manual maneuvering provided by controls by controls on the autopilot controller Heading lock Autopilot with manometric locks and radio coupling (three axes):

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Yaw damper with pitch and roll autopilot gives stabilization in three axes Automatic pitch trim Barometric sensors provide height and airspeed lock facilities Three channel-Engage and trim indication Preselect heading control Variable beam intercept angle for operational flexibility Automatic capture of VOR and ILS beams Automatic wind drift correction Optional facilities Altitude preselect and vertical speed control Mach lock Category ll capability The VOR is simply a radio beam transmitter which the airplane autopilot can identify through its coupler. The fan markers are transmitters located near the airport which transmit a vertical fan shaped beam, when the airplane passes over them, the pilots knows how far he is from the airport. Blue, amber and white lights are lighted automatically on his panel as he passes over the different markers. Note how complex the approach may be if the airplane must be prevented from landing right away and has to stay in a holding pattern.

AUTOPILOT-FLIGHT DIRECTOR
The autopilot function of the AF-FD provides: Fully automatic attitude or path control, and semiautomatic control via the flight controller

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The flight directors display the required attitude change in most autopilot modes and also when the autopilot is off. The systems employs three identical computers each with autopilot and flight director output. The latter output, indicating the attitude change which the pilot or autopilot must affect to properly control the airplane, can be displayed on the attitude director indicators (ADI). Each pilot can independently select any one of the computers. For en route operation, either autopilot channel is used alone. In the landing mode, both may be employed if their outputs disagree beyond tolerance limits, a display warns the pilot to consider switching to single channel mode or manual control. The independence between channels including the fact that each governs a different pitch and roll control servomechanism gives the system capability for category ll automatic landings. The most significant improvement in operational

versatility has been made in pitch axis control, where altitude preselection, airspeed hold, and altitude hold modes have been made available both for autopilot and flight director. The full listing of AP-FD functional capabilities is as follows:

No 1.

Mode Pitch modes Pitch Pitch heel control Altitude hold Airspeed hold Altitude select

Autopilot Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

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Flight Director Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

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Turbulence Go around Vertical speed control 2. Lateral modes Heading hold Turn knob control Heading select Inertial navigation VOR/LOC navigation Back Beam 3. Combined modes Localizer capture G/S capture and auto land with flare

Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes Yes

AVIATION AUTOPILOT CATEGORIES OF LANDING

Instrument aided landings are defined in categories by the ICAO. These are dependent upon the required visibility level and the degree to which the landing can be conducted automatically without input by the pilot. CAT I - This category permits pilots to land with a decision height (where the pilot takes over from the autopilot) of 200 ft and a forward visibility of 2400 ft. Simplex autopilots are sufficient. CAT II - This category permits pilots to land with a decision height of 100 ft and a forward visibility of 1200 ft. Autopilots have a fail passive requirement.
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CAT IIIa

- A full blind landing capability on autopilot. Pilot assumes control on touch down. The failure rate of the automatic system must be better than 1 in 10 million.

CAT IIIb

- As IIIa but with the addition of automatic roll out after touchdown incorporated with the pilot taking control some distance along the runway. Obviously for this category some form of runway guidance system is needed.

CAT IIIc

- As IIIb but with the inclusion of automatic taxi control enabling runway to terminal without pilot intervention. No current aircraft has this capability.

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Will examine now some complete autopilot systems. We define a system as that complete aggregation of elements which are necessary to cause the airplane to follow some desired flight pattern. The autopilot is an analog system using solid state devices throughout. Direct-coupled circuits are used to minimize the numbers of components, and all signal switching is solid state thus improving the reliability. The system utilizes standard syncho transmissions and is therefore compatible with many other systems

AUTOTHROTTLE
The auto throttle system of the AFCS maintains a preselected airspeed during descent, approach and landing, thus reducing pilot workload during these critical phases. Auto throttle speed command, selected on the AP-FD glareshield panel, is displayed on the pilots airspeed indicators. The difference between the actual and

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commanded airspeeds constitutes the error signal to a computer driving a servomotor coupled by control cable to the throttles. The error signal is displayed on each ADI. The flight mode annunciator provides fault isolation testing. Operating any of four switches on the throttle levers disengages the autothrottle. An additional autothrottle function is provided. When the autopilot is in autoland mode and flare altitude is reached, the autopilot sends the autothrottle computer a signal which initiates an automatic retarding of the throttles to their aft stops. AUTOMATIC THROTTLE SEP-6 The automatic throttle system requires inputs from the longitudinal accelerometer, the airspeed error signal, and pitch attitude signal. These three signals are mixed in the computer and used to control the servothrottle motors. The computer also operates a warning flag signal on the pilots display. The automatic throttle provides precise control of airspeed during approach and terminal phases and automatic closure (decrease) touchdown. of fuel flow during flare out just before

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MINI AUTOPILOT V1.0.B

Embbeded Power PC real time solution Advanced system: Configurable to Fixed Wing and Rotor Wing Platforms Waypoint navigation (GPS, D-GPS, INS) Special fail safe navigation mode
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- Dynamic real time gains, limits etc. adjustments - Dual extended Kalman Filtering for precision navigation - Compressed digital image transferring - Autonomous Hand Launch, Autonomous flight, Autonomous belly landing, Autonomous parachute deployment capability - Manuel steering, Manuel control through secure digital link - Return home mode for communication loss, gps signal loss etc. - Communication relay mode (In Development) - Auto target coordinate detection through INS support - Fault tolerant embedded software Weight (Sensors, Flight Control system, Radio Modem): 160 grams Dimensions: 12 cm x 9 cm x 4cm

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Features / Specifications: Software:

Real time operating system Multithreaded software (Stabilization, Navigation, Payload, Comm. Etc.) Fault Tolerant Fault Detection (Continuous Testing of the components) Real time flight data loading, gain adjustments and telemetry transfer Digital Image Transferring
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Hardware: Advanced Integration: All functions in a single chip! 3 Axis Gyros (300 deg/sec), Accelerometers (10g), Magnetometers Comm. Unit (>60 Miles LOS) GPS Unit (4 Hz Update Rate) Ultrasonic Range Finder Unit Temp. Calibrated Pressure Ports Digital Camera Unit Voltage Regulator 13 Servo Output

Flight Control: Full Autonomous Take Off And Landing (Catapult, Hand Launch, Wheel Take Off) Autonomous Cruise Manuel Steering Manuel Flight Mode Return Home Option on Lost Communication Advanced Attitude Estimation Techniques Through GPS

Physical:

Size: 180 mm * 125 mm * 55 mm Weight: 550 grams

Features/Specifications:

A total integrated solution including 3 axis sensor suite, pressure ports, GPS, Ultrasonic Range Finder, Radio Modem, High Level Control PC, High Resolution Camera
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Industrial PC Based Hardware Real Time Operating System Multithreaded software development Autonomous Stabilization and Navigation Real time flight data loading, gain adjustments and telemetry transfer Home return in case of Lost Communications (Selective) High Resolution Digital Image Transferring and Onboard storing (80 Gb) LOS 90 km communication range (256 kbaud/sn.) Highly integrated, robust and secure solution for command,

control and monitoring. Microcontroller based control system handles the management of data transfer of telemetry, payload and uplink command. The operator interface runs on a Windows based PC system. The system gives support for multi-UAV monitoring from a single ground station thanks to the network enabling communication systemsVV

General Specifications and Features: Ground Control System

Microcontroller based hardware Real-time operating system environment Multithreaded software architecture Multi UAV command, control and monitoring support Communications Management

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HARDWARE IN THE LOOP SIMULATOR

Development of modern control, guidance and navigation systems mostly depend on the control system and the modeling, simulation, realtime testing of the system dynamics. Successfully applied modeling and simulations can decrease the time required for hardware prototype development in incredible amounts. Also, it decreases the risks that might be encountered during testing and system integration processes. Simulation of the UAVs dynamic behavior in conditions that are very close to real-flying environment is required very much for the development of the control system and the algorithms and also evaluation of the vehicles performance under different conditions. Conforming to these principles, flight control system algorithms and guidance control system developed at Baykar Machine are initially applied to the platform in the simulation environment and tests with tuning continued till satisfactory results are taken.

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Modern autopilots generally divide to a several part which is: A flight into taxi Take-off Ascent Level Descent, Approach and landing phases

Autopilots exist that automate all of these flight phases except the taxiing. Landing on runway and controlling the aircraft on rollout for example keeping it on the centre of the runway is CAT 3b landing, used on the majority of major runways today. Landing, rollout and taxi control to stand is CAT 3c. This is not usually used to date but may be used in the future. An autopilot is often an integral component of a Flight Management System. Modern autopilots use computer software to control the aircraft. The software reads the aircraft's current position, and controls a flight control system to guide the aircraft. In such a system, besides classic flight controls, many autopilots incorporate thrust control capabilities that can control throttles to optimize the air-speed, and move fuel to different tanks to balance the aircraft in an optimal attitude in the air.

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The autopilot reads its position and the aircraft's attitude from an inertial guidance system. Inertial guidance systems accumulate errors over time. They will incorporate error reduction systems such as the carousel system that rotates once a minute so that any errors are dissipated in different directions and have an overall nulling effect. Error in gyroscopes is known as drift. The six dimensions are usually roll, pitch, yaw, altitude, latitude and longitude. Aircraft may fly routes that have a required performance factor, therefore the amount of error or actual performance factor must be monitored in order to fly those particular routes. The longer the flight the more error accumulates within the system. Radio aids such as DME, DME updates and GPS may be used to correct the aircraft position. Inertial reference units, i.e. gyroscopes, are the basis of aircraft on board position determining, as GPS and other radio update systems depend on a third party to supply information. IRU's are completely self-contained and use gravity and earth rotation to determine their initial position (earth rate). They then measure acceleration to calculate where they are in relation to where they were to start with. From acceleration one can get speed and from speed one can get distance. As long as one knows the direction (from accelerometers) the IRU's can determine where they are (software dependent). The Digital Autopilot is an all digital, self calibrating, two axis Autopilot system designed specifically for the EFIS/One & EFIS/Lite. It incorporates the latest in small, high torque mini DC motors, a high quality aerospace grade gearbox, a high resolution position encoder and a magnetic clutch all enclosed in single aircraft quality aluminum housing.

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Automatic Throttle The automatic throttle system, inputs from the

longitudinal accelerometer, the airspeed error signal, and pitch attitude signal. These three signals are mixed in the computer and used to control the servo throttle motors. The computer also operates a warning flag signal on the pilots displays. The automatic throttle provides precise control of airspeed during approach and terminal phases and automatic closure (decrease) of fuel flow during flare out just before touchdown.

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