DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS AND TEST OF THE FLIGHT CONTROL ACTUATORS FOR A DEMONSTRATOR FOR AN UNMANNED FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION AIRCRAFT

Abstract

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) becoming increasingly attractive to airfreight transportation duties. The Automated Low Altitude Air Delivery (ALAADy) UAS is a Technology demonstrator for an innovative concept of delivering freight by means of a low cost solution. The demonstrator is based on an AutoGyro MTOFree gyroplane. The development of this demonstrator aircraft is aligned to upcoming innovative rules for certification of UAS for operation in civil airspace. Hereby, safety assessment is based on a mission centric approach, which focusses on the risks resulting from the operational scenario, to determine the necessary safety assurance level. The higher the risk of causing fatalities or significant damage to property in case of uncontrolled operation, the higher will be the rigor of safety assurance. The paper focusses on the design and test of the electromechanical actuation system for the ALAADy demonstrator. The paper starts with an overview about the project and the demonstrator aircraft including the Mission and most relevant objectives. Subsequently, the requirements on the actuation system as well as main design considerations are introduced. Further, a section is dedicated to the testing activities of the actuation system to demonstrate compliance with the requirements. Besides the test results, an automated test bench will be described, which was utilized to conduct most of the test procedures. The paper concludes with a summary and an outlook to the next steps in the ALAADy demonstrator project.