Operational Concepts for Uninhabited Tactical Aircraft

Deets, Dwain A. and Purifoy, Dana (1998) Operational Concepts for Uninhabited Tactical Aircraft. Technical Report NASA/TM-1998-206549, Research Engineering, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

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Abstract

This paper describes experiences with five remotely piloted flight research vehicle projects in the developmental flight test phase. These projects include the Pathfinder, Perseus B, Altus, and X-36 aircraft and the Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology (HiMAT). Each of these flight projects was flown at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. With the exception of the HiMAT, these projects are a part of the Flight Research Base Research and Technology (R&T) Program of the NASA Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology Enterprise. Particularly with respect to operational interfaces between the ground-based pilot or operator, this paper draws from those experiences, then provides some rationale for extending the lessons learned during developmental flight research to the possible situations involved in the developmental flights proceeding deployed uninhabited tactical aircraft (UTA) operations. Two types of UTA control approaches are considered: autonomous and remotely piloted. In each of these cases, some level of human operator or pilot control blending is recommended. Additionally, “best practices” acquired over years of piloted aircraft experience are drawn from and presented as they apply to operational UTA.

EPrint Type:	NASA Technical Memorandum
Keywords:	Altus, Autonomous control, Flight test, Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology, HiMAT, Pathfinder, Perseus B, Remotely piloted vehicles, Uninhabited tactical aircraft, Unmanned tactical aircraft, X-36 airplane
Subjects:	Aircraft/Project: Perseus Aircraft/Project: HiMAT (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (05) Aircraft Design, Testing And Performance
ID Code:	134
Deposited On:	04 June 2004
Additional Information:	9 pages. Presented at the 8th Symposium on System Design Considerations for Uninhabited Tactical Aircraft, Athens, Greece, October 7-9, 1997.