FULLY AUTOMATIC GUIDANCE FOR ROTORCRAFT NAP-OF-THE-EARTH (NOE) FLIGHT FOLLOWING PLANNED PROFILES

Developing a single-pilot, all-weather nap-of-the-earth (NOE) capability requires fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are being investigated in a four-fold research effort that will: (1) organize the on-board computer-based storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles in course-oriented coordinates indexed to the mission flight plan; (2) define a class of automatic anticipative pursuit guidance algorithms and necessary data preview requirements to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands dictated by the updated flight profiles; and (3) automate a decision-making process for unexpected obstacle avoidance that will (4) provide several rapid response maneuvers. Constrained time-optimality provides a validated criterion for automatically controlled NOE obstacle avoidance maneuvers. This four-fold research effort will culminate in the real-time piloted simulation of promising alternatives for automatic guidance and control of rotorcraft in NOE operations, thereby providing a practical demonstration for evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts.