The enhancement of the prescribed track for unmanned air vehicles
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology
ISSN: 0002-2667
Article publication date: 31 July 2020
Issue publication date: 28 October 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are more affected by adverse wind conditions in especially landing. Therefore, they need to change the runway in use. In case of this change, to eliminate the uncertain maneuvers, there is a need for a special prescribed track. The purpose of this study is the construction of a prescribed track at a single runway to provide a facility to change the runway in use.
Design/methodology/approach
Two forms of prescribed tracks, as standard and alternate, were constructed for UAVs by taking into consideration the key parameters to design flight procedures. Both tracks were assessed in a real-time simulation method. Moreover, unmanned vehicle simulation was used for a validation process.
Findings
According to the real-time simulation results, 8.14 NM and 6.64 NM of flight distance and 5.43 min and 4.43 min of flight time for the standard and alternate prescribed tracks were found, respectively. The obtained results were in favor of the alternate prescribed track. Furthermore, the prescribed track was assessed and validated in both air traffic control and UAV simulations. The feedback of pilots and controllers was very positive for a prescribed track, as it provided them with foresight and time to take care in any situations.
Practical implications
The prescribed track in this paper may be applied by airspace designers and UAV users to perform safe and efficient landing in adverse wind conditions.
Originality/value
In this study, a prescribed track was constructed for UAVs. Quantitative results were achieved using a real-time simulation method in terms of flight distance and flight time. Additionally, validation of the prescribed track was achieved by unmanned air vehicle simulation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the SAYP Project under the Grant No: 30830. The authors would like to thank the Turkish Aerospace Industries for allowing the use of the UAV simulator for the analyses. Thanks are also given to the air traffic controllers and UAV pilots for their kind support and valuable opinions.
Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and publication of this article.
Funding: The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Citation
Usanmaz, O., Karaderili, M., Sahin, O. and Savaş, T. (2020), "The enhancement of the prescribed track for unmanned air vehicles", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 92 No. 10, pp. 1469-1473. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEAT-12-2019-0255
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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