Simplified stability criteria for drone/carrier-aircraft close range flight

Abstract

Both drone swarm intensive flight and drone aerial recovery involve the stability problem of drone/carrier-aircraft flight in close range interference flow field. This paper proposes an aerodynamic derivative model for drone/carrier-aircraft interference based on the above application background, simplifies the longitudinal dynamic equations, and derives the simplified stability criteria for the drone. Numerical simulation and analysis indicate that this simplified criterion reflects the relationship between the drone's motion stability, aerodynamic characteristics, and interference flow field characteristics, and can be used for preliminary analysis and design of flight stability in interference flow fields. Numerical simulation also indicate that the down-wash flow can cause the drone to have short-period motion with slower convergence of amplitude, which increases the difficulty of achieving stable and controllable flight in the interference flow field.

Keywords

• drone/carrier-aircraft
• motion stability
• criteria
• interference flow field
• aerodynamic characteristics
• close range flight