By 雪莉DiBari
A 1980s-era radio-controlled plane used for U.S. Army surface-to-air gun and missile target practice is getting a new life at 最靠谱的网赌软件’s Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory.
整个夏天, more than a dozen students refurbished and retrofitted the 40-year-old radio-controlled plane with autonomous technology.
在20世纪70年代和80年代，美国.S. 陆军购买了100台,000架飞机模型, known as radio-controlled miniature aerial targets (RCMATs), designed as target practice for surface-to-air guns and missiles.
The FQM-117B, the model the students are refurbishing, is a 6-foot foam plane, resembling a 1/9th苏联米格-27喷气式战斗机. 用的是二冲程汽油发动机, 时速可达90英里, 爬升到10,000 feet and stay airborne for 12 minutes.
Because the models were made to be expendable, they came in a kit with spare parts. One person would launch the model by hand, then the radio controller would take over. 一旦目标被击中, the airplane would be retrieved and repaired with the spare parts to be sent back out into the field.
FQM-117C, 1/9thF-16“战隼”战斗机的比例模型, was later used in conjunction with the B-Model for “Friend or Foe” training.
该系列在20世纪90年代末退役, and many of the airframes ended up at NASA Langley 研究 Center for use as testbeds for flight control systems.
How the airplanes got to Old Dominion is another story.
罗伯·斯图尔特，一名研究生 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering我参加了一个 Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems 国际 几年前见过. During a break between sessions Mike French, vice president of Space Systems at Aerospace Industries Association, showed him the airframe of an RCMAT stowed in the back of his car.
French, who has a long history with NASA Langley, knew that they were clearing out these models. 他建议斯图尔特, who is involved in advising a variety of UAV-related student clubs and design projects, 也许能找到一些用处.
The 6-foot RCMAT went home in the back of Stuart’s truck that day.
事情并没有就此结束.
“有一天我回到家, and Mike had dropped off 10 more of them in front of my garage door,斯图亚特说. “And then, three days later, there's another 10 of them.”
Stuart had the idea to modernize the airplanes and provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to get hands-on experience in working with autonomous systems.
“They're pretty much the way that the Army would have received them in the early 1980s,斯图亚特说. “The project provides a great opportunity to bring old and new together.”
在谢恩·贝里的帮助下, a physics major with an interest in low-speed aerodynamics and small UAVs, 斯图尔特收到了一封 弗吉尼亚太空资助协会 Innovative Projects grant to improve the RCMAT’s aerodynamics and add autonomous systems.
Stuart then reached out to a group of students from a previous aircraft design project.
一周两次, more than a dozen of those student volunteers showed up at the lab to work on the models.
They have been doing everything from trimming balsa wood and cutting foam to 3D printing and computer coding for the autonomous systems.
One group of students modified a detachable wing section to address the RCMAT’s low-speed handling issues.
They also adapted the airframe to accept an electric motor – the equivalent of a 2.5马力燃气发动机.
“An important lesson learned has been the difference between gas-powered versus electric and how that changes flight dynamics,斯图亚特解释道.
The addition of autonomous systems and sensors will complete the project. “The goal is to flip the switch and the plane will take off, circle around and land itself with zero intervention,斯图亚特说.
斯图尔特和德鲁·兰德曼, professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and faculty advisor on the project, recently took one of the completed UAVs out to an airfield for testing.
The airplane, equipped with a small autopilot and sensors, was programmed for a test flight. It took off, flew autonomously and landed on its own. 然而，着陆并不是那么顺利. The airplane needed minor repairs afterward.
Stuart suggests that failure, though, is a good lesson.
“When students go to build the real thing in the workforce, they will have already had a chance to fail,他说. “At least once, they will have had the opportunity to crash and have some sort of setback.
“It allows for big mistakes to be made because we have more of them,” he added. “它可以提前解决问题.”