Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?
Graduate
Project Type
group
Campus
Daytona Beach
Authors' Class Standing
Tobey Cram, Graduate student Jacob House, Graduate student Alexander Theophanis, Graduate student
Lead Presenter's Name
Tobey Cram
Lead Presenter's College
DB College of Engineering
Faculty Mentor Name
Dr. Kranthi Kumar Deveerasetty
Abstract
Title: Advancing VTOL Tail-Sitter Stability Through Modern Flight Control and System Identification The concept of tail-sitter aircraft can be traced back to Nikola Tesla nearly 100 years ago; however, no aircraft with this novel design materialized until nearly 20 years later during World War II, when efforts were made to reduce reliance on runways. One notable design that emerged during the Cold War was the Convair XFY-1 Pogo. This design failed for reasons common to many others of the time: pilots had extreme difficulty landing while looking over their shoulders, and the technology of the era could not reliably maintain stability, making operation exhausting and nearly impossible. Modern processing power and fly-by-wire flight control systems have renewed interest in tail-sitter aircraft, particularly in the context of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), where vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability, operational flexibility, and reduced infrastructure requirements are critical. The speed and accuracy of modern systems enable computer-controlled stabilization across multiple flight regimes, significantly reducing pilot workload and improving feasibility for autonomous or semi-autonomous operations. EFRC is leveraging this technology to develop a small fleet of dual-motor VTOL tail-sitter aircraft with variable propulsion systems. Simulink models are being developed to simulate and control the flight dynamics of each vehicle configuration. The team is using CIFER (Comprehensive Identification from FrEquency Responses) to identify transient responses across a complete frequency range, forming the basis of a bare-airframe model that characterizes the system’s flight dynamics. Control gains tuning, and robustness are optimized using CONDUIT (CONtrol Designer’s Unified Interface Toolkit), which employs iterative methods to determine optimal gains based on a defined cost function. The result will be flight controller firmware capable of maintaining Level 1 controllability across varying propulsion systems and payload configurations, supporting the reliability and safety requirements of AAM systems.
Did this research project receive funding support (Spark, SURF, Research Abroad, Student Internal Grants, Collaborative, Climbing, or Ignite Grants) from the Office of Undergraduate Research?
No
Included in
Aeronautical Vehicles Commons, Maintenance Technology Commons, Navigation, Guidance, Control and Dynamics Commons
Advancing VTOL Tail-Sitter Stability Through Modern Flight Control and System Identification
Title: Advancing VTOL Tail-Sitter Stability Through Modern Flight Control and System Identification The concept of tail-sitter aircraft can be traced back to Nikola Tesla nearly 100 years ago; however, no aircraft with this novel design materialized until nearly 20 years later during World War II, when efforts were made to reduce reliance on runways. One notable design that emerged during the Cold War was the Convair XFY-1 Pogo. This design failed for reasons common to many others of the time: pilots had extreme difficulty landing while looking over their shoulders, and the technology of the era could not reliably maintain stability, making operation exhausting and nearly impossible. Modern processing power and fly-by-wire flight control systems have renewed interest in tail-sitter aircraft, particularly in the context of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), where vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability, operational flexibility, and reduced infrastructure requirements are critical. The speed and accuracy of modern systems enable computer-controlled stabilization across multiple flight regimes, significantly reducing pilot workload and improving feasibility for autonomous or semi-autonomous operations. EFRC is leveraging this technology to develop a small fleet of dual-motor VTOL tail-sitter aircraft with variable propulsion systems. Simulink models are being developed to simulate and control the flight dynamics of each vehicle configuration. The team is using CIFER (Comprehensive Identification from FrEquency Responses) to identify transient responses across a complete frequency range, forming the basis of a bare-airframe model that characterizes the system’s flight dynamics. Control gains tuning, and robustness are optimized using CONDUIT (CONtrol Designer’s Unified Interface Toolkit), which employs iterative methods to determine optimal gains based on a defined cost function. The result will be flight controller firmware capable of maintaining Level 1 controllability across varying propulsion systems and payload configurations, supporting the reliability and safety requirements of AAM systems.