Computational Simulation of Flight Behavior of Flying Wing UAV

Abstract

Abstract — The aim of this work is to model and simulate a Flying Wing Aircraft and compare acquired flight data from two different simulations. The framework proposed constitutes of the development of a graphical model as well as the use of a mathematical model of the aircraft. In order to implement the Software-in-the-Loop (SIL), we used a commercial flight simulation environment, X-plane 10, which simulates the dynamics of the aircraft through the Blade Element Theory, and the software MATLAB/Simulink, which simulates and implement the control laws. We collected the flight data from the simulator, as well as the responses of the mathematical model based on equations of motion and the aerodynamic derivatives, which were computed via the Digital DATCOM software. Both analytical simulation and the SIL simulation were performed with the same flight conditions, validating the longitudinal dynamic of the computational model and allowing further studies of this type of aircraft in future projects.