Wind field estimation in UAV formation flight

摘要: Wind and turbulence, including wakes induced by leading aircraft, have a large impact on flight performance safety of both manned unmanned aircraft. An accurate real-time wind estimation technique is crucial for tasks such as increasing air traffic capacity, commercial formation flight, or aerial refueling, etc. A leader-follower Phastball Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were used the experimental platform above problem. The data system UAV was developed with pitot-tube flow-angle sensors. Using designed system, two Unscented Kalman Filters (one standalone UKF one cooperative UKF) field without using wake information from leader For close flights, assumed to be predictable certain models follower Flight showed effectiveness EKF compared ground weather station measurements. Simulation results advantage over UKF.