Non-Linear System Controlled UAV Experiment

To test the flight control performance of a micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) under a turbulent atmosphere, a wind wall composed of small fans is utilized to create a turbulent environment. The wind wall used is known as WindShape, which is an open wind tunnel, consisting of 3x3 fans in cells. These cells can be manipulated to emulate turbulent air flow formed by eddies in wind. This will allow many variations in the turbulent environment generated by changing the configurations of each cell. In order to take measurements on fluid flow data and investigate the UAV’s response to the turbulence generated, hot wire, pressure transducers, and motion capture system are utilized. By using those tools, a flow field can be replicated in order to investigate the physics of the flow and examine how the UAV reacts. The pressure transducers yield low frequency velocity profiles. The hot wire probes yield high frequency fluctuation velocity profiles and the motion capture system will display movements of the UAV from the fluid flow.