Automatic Take-off and Landing of the Small Scaled Tilt Rotor UAV based on Single GPS/INS

A small scaled night model of the tilt rotor aircraft for the Smart UAV Program at KARl (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) has been developed and tested. The night test of automatic take off and landing of the small scaled model was performed as the final test phase. The control laws for automatic take off and landing was designed based on a single GPS/INS. Since the error of single GPS/INS was nut negligible so that an automatic landing algorithm with the sensor error was considered. The night test procedure for the automatic take off and landing was considered to prove the performance of a single GPS/INS sensor and flight characteristics of small tilt rotor aircraft The test procedure was scheduled as an automatic take off, a climb with acceleration while point turn, an change of the turn point. a descent with deceleration in point turn, an automatic approach to hover, and an automatic landing. All of the control inputs were made by an internal pilot (IP). The night test results and the detailed procedure of the night test for the automatic takeoff and landing of the small scaled lilt rotor aircraft is presented in this paper.