A New Type of Airflow Sensor for Gliding Parachutes

Abstract

The paper presents the design, calibration and test of the RMAS (Riser-Mounted Airflow Sensor), a sensor module for measuring airspeed and angle of attack in gliding parachute systems. The device was developed by the Institute of Flight Systems of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Braunschweig, Germany and later tested within the EU project Paraplane. The measuring principle is comparable to a multi-hole pressure probe, which is attached to one of the front risers that connect the confluence points with the lower suspension lines. At this location the sensor almost does not interfere with the deployment of the canopy, which was a major problem of previous approaches for obtaining airflow measurements in parachute systems. A preliminary calibration of one RMAS device was done in a small wind tunnel at DLR in Braunschweig. During the Paraplane flight tests, the RMAS was successfully used to acquire airflow data, which were later processed in order to evaluate the flight performance of the system.