Towards landing a deep-stalled flying-wing in a powered flat spin: a proof of concept

Master thesis (2022)

Authors

M. Barbera Aerospace Engineering

Contributors

C. de Wagter (supervisor 1)
B.D.W. Remes (supervisor 2)
Faculty
Aerospace Engineering
Copyright: © 2022 Matteo Barbera
Drone UAV Control algorithm MAV Flying wing Proof-of-concept Landing Deep stall Samara Flat spin
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Published Date

30-11-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

Flying-wings show great potential for a vast number of applications, in both commercial and military sectors, thanks to their long range and fast forward flight, but suffer due to their lack of vertical take-off and landing capabilities. This paper presents a proof of concept for a novel landing method for a conventional flying wing that does not introduce additional weight dedicated only to the landing phase, with the aim of controlling a deep-stalled flying-wing in a powered flat spin. Through cyclic actuation of the servo motors and elevons, lateral forces as well as moments can be generated to control the position and attitude of the rotation plane. A successful indoor experiment was performed with a modified Parrot Disco in a controlled environment. Outdoor tests, however, failed to replicate the indoor results due to additional challenges present in the real flight conditions. A number of key challenges were identified, and the insights gained in this research lay an initial foundation for future work on this topic.