Autonomous Missile Flight Control for Downwash Stabilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned missiles released from carrier aircraft often experience aerodynamic instability immediately after launch, leading to uncontrolled flight and potential collision with the carrier due to downwash forces, requiring extensive flight tests and simulations for rudder angle adjustments, which is inefficient and risky.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an autonomous flight control system that activates early after separation, adjusting vertical rudders and elevators to neutral positions, and using sensors to detect separation, allowing for immediate correction of flight conditions caused by downwash, reducing the need for pre-defined rudder presets and extensive testing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the missile is released with wings retracted in an aerodynamically unstable state, then the release mechanism is simplified and the missile can be stored compactly on the carrier aircraft, but the missile becomes highly susceptible to aerodynamic forces and downwash field causing uncontrolled deflection and potential collision
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control system is activated immediately upon release detection, before the missile has traveled any significant distance from the carrier aircraft. This preliminary action allows the control system to counteract downwash forces and aerodynamic instability from the very beginning of free flight, preventing uncontrolled deflection while maintaining the simple released state with wings retracted
2Reliability
If traditional methods are used with preset rudder angles determined through extensive flight tests, then the missile can be stabilized against downwash forces, but the development time and cost increase significantly due to required flight clearance tests
Solution Approach 1:
The missile's flight control system autonomously determines and adjusts the optimal rudder angles based on real-time sensor feedback about its actual flight conditions, including downwash field effects. This self-service capability eliminates the need for extensive pre-flight testing to determine preset rudder angles, as the system adapts automatically during operation
Solution Approach 2:
The flight control system continuously monitors the missile's flight parameters and control surface positions, comparing actual performance against desired trajectories. This feedback loop allows real-time correction of rudder angles to compensate for downwash forces and aerodynamic instability, replacing the need for extensive ground-based testing and preset configurations
3Reliability
If the flight control system is activated immediately after release, then the missile can be stabilized against downwash forces, but the control system must operate in a highly unstable aerodynamic environment with limited processing time
Solution Approach 1:
The flight control system operates continuously from the moment of release detection, providing uninterrupted control authority throughout the critical initial phase of flight. This continuous operation ensures that stabilizing corrections are applied without interruption, maintaining control despite the rapidly changing aerodynamic environment and limited response time
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures reliable and controlled flight of aerodynamically unstable missiles by initiating flight control within 100 ms of separation, reducing the risk of collision and eliminating the need for extensive preliminary tests, thereby enhancing safety and efficiency in flight clearance procedures.
Implementation Method 1
The aerodynamic forces acting on the missile are dependent on the velocity of approach, i.e., on the tape-to-head speed of the carrier aircraft to the air upon release of the unmanned missile
Implementation Method 2
such as the so-called downwash field (i.e., the flow field around the missile in the attached state) and through repulsive forces of an ejector system
Implementation Method 3
Pressure differences between the top and underside of the missile generate pitching moments
Data Source
AI summary
Unmanned missile and method for releasing the unmanned missile from a carrier aircraft, in which the missile has an autonomous flight control device that acts on control devices of the missile. The method includes adjusting vertical rudders and elevators of the missile into a neutral position in which a respective rudder angle is 0°, separating electrical and mechanical connections between the missile and the carrier aircraft, and detecting, via sensors of the missile, that the separating has occurred. The method also includes activating the autonomous flight control device and automatically controlling the missile with the flight control device and the control devices based upon correction flight condition variables caused by a prevailing downwash between the missile and the carrier aircraft, and automatically controlling the missile with the flight control device and the control devices based on data stored in at least one storage device on the missile.