A Remote Test Pilot Control Station for Unmanned Research Aircraft

Abstract

First-person-view ground control stations are an alternative to overcome the drawbacks of an external remote pilot with direct visual line of sight during flight-testing of unmanned aircraft systems. In this paper, a remote test pilot control station with first-person-view for advanced flight-testing is presented. The remote test pilot control station is developed for the German Aerospace Center's ALAADy (Automated Low Altitude Air Delivery) demonstrator aircraft, a gyroplane with a maximum take-off mass of 450 kg. The paper focusses on the system design of the remote test pilot control station, which has to overcome three major challenges: fault tolerance and reliability of the system, the pilot's situational and spatial awareness and latency. The remote test pilot control station is evaluated by pilot-in-the-loop simulations within a dedicated simulation environment. Objective performance criteria as well as subjective pilot ratings based on the Cooper-Harper rating scale are used to assess the control station for the ALAADy-demonstrator in direct mode and flight controller assisted mode. The simulation results show that pilots with experience in manned gyroplanes can consistently control the ALAADy demonstrator with the remote test pilot control station in ideal windless conditions. However, in more challenging crosswind conditions, pilot induced oscillations can be observed in direct mode.