Ground Testing of the FLEXOP Demonstrator Aircraft

Abstract

Ground testing campaign conducted on the FLEXOP demonstrator aircraft is presentedin this paper. The conducted tests are grouped in structural, flight system and integrationtests. Along with the description of the test setup and test execution, the main findingsand conclusions are also given. The structural tests comprise the static, ground vibrationand the airworthiness test. The static and the ground vibration tests were used for struc-tural characterisation of the manufactured wings and airframe as a whole. Assessment andcalibration of the Fibre Brag strain sensing system for wing shape and load reconstruc-tion is also presented within this context. The airworthiness test is used to demonstratethe structural integrity of the manufactured wings under specified limit loads. Withinthe context of the flight system tests, the main components of the on-board autopilothardware-software system are briefly introduced including the signal data flow from theRC transmitter to the aircraft controls, the functionality of the baseline autopilot softwareand the communication with the ground station. All of these components are integratedinto the hardware-in-the-loop environment, which is also briefly introduced along with theservo motor identification and the hardware delay measurements. The measured hard-ware delay was considered in the design of the baseline and flutter controllers. The fluttercontrollers were tested together with the baseline controller in the software-in-the-loopenvironment. System integration tests are presented last. In this context the airbrake,the engine, the compatibility of electronic components, the range and the taxi tests arepresented.