Fireside With Flair Airlines CEO Stephen Jones

Jim Bourke from the International Aerobatic Club will discuss considerations in choosing the right aerobatic plane for you to step into that won't be too limiting or boring too quickly, but also not too overwhelming to start in.

System identification methods are ideally suited for rapidly determining bare-airframe simulation models of fixed-wing and rotorcraft UAVs, since UAV configurations change widely throughout their development process. Also the parameters needed for a physics-based model are often poorly known for UAVs, or the modeling assumptions do to correspond well to the physical characteristics of modern UAV configurations. A full-flight envelope UAV simulation can be obtained from “stitching” together only a few point identification models, obtained from a very limited flight-testing program. This webinar will review the fundamentals of the frequency-response method for UAV aircraft and rotorcraft system identification. Special methods are needed for modern multi-copter or eVTOL configurations with highly redundant controls. Identifications methods and results are illustrated with many recent UAV examples. Particular emphasis is given to the important role of system identification in UAV flight control development, implementation verification, and documentation of performance. The course will review key methods, computational tools, and complimentary reference material. The lecture material will be followed by a question and answer period.

How drone-sourced data can improve objectivity. Where agricultural drones fit into the remote sensing ecosystem. How drones are being used in teaching/educational environments. How drone technology can boost the speed & frequency of field trial assessments. What positional accuracy is achievable with drone-sourced data. How drone data can be analysed.

The complexity of the multiple interactions between material choices, tooling selection, design methodology and manufacturing processes must be fully appreciated in order to devise the most robust and efficient approach to optimizing composite aerostructures to achieve lower costs, higher quality and reduced weight. This is a fundamental change in airframe design. Engineers will be forced to rely more on engineering tools than on established design rules as they adopt more composite content into their designs.