Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2012.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Siegel, Diana
Other Authors: R. John Hansman.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71462
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author Siegel, Diana
author2 R. John Hansman.
author_facet R. John Hansman.
Siegel, Diana
author_sort Siegel, Diana
collection MIT
description Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2012.
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spelling mit-1721.1/714622019-04-10T09:19:46Z Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft Siegel, Diana R. John Hansman. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Aeronautics and Astronautics. Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2012. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-208). Accidents due to engine failure, pilot disorientation or pilot incapacitation occur far more frequently in general aviation than in commercial aviation, yet general aviation aircraft are equipped with less safety-enhancing features than commercial aircraft. This thesis presents the design of an emergency autoland system that includes automatic landing site selection, guidance to the selected landing site and guidance along the final approach, in addition to the automatic landing capability provided by conventional autoland systems. The proposed system builds on the capability of a general aviation autopilot, flight management system and GPS/WAAS augmented, integrated navigation system. The system provides this automatic landing capability without the use of automatic throttle control and without the use of a radar altimeter, which are essential to conventional autoland systems, but are typically lacking on general aviation aircraft. The design addresses the challenge of no automatic throttle control by utilizing only two simple power settings: cruise power and zero power. The lack of radar altimeter is addressed by appropriate flare planning and placement of the target touchdown point. The approach from the point of autoland initiation, to the approach fix at the the landing site, is performed at cruise power, provided that power is available. The final approach from the approach fix to touchdown, is performed at zero power. Control of the touchdown point location during the final approach is achieved through adjustment of the length of the trajectory, whenever the aircraft's glide performance deviates from the expected performance. The aircraft's glide performance is measured online as the aircraft tracks the planned trajectory. The performance of the final design is evaluated in simulation in terms of touchdown point dispersion, sink rate and attitude on touchdown. by Diana Siegel. S.M. 2012-07-02T15:43:09Z 2012-07-02T15:43:09Z 2012 2012 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71462 795183424 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 208 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Siegel, Diana
Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title_full Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title_fullStr Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title_full_unstemmed Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title_short Development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
title_sort development of an autoland system for general aviation aircraft
topic Aeronautics and Astronautics.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/71462
work_keys_str_mv AT siegeldiana developmentofanautolandsystemforgeneralaviationaircraft