Comprehensive Analysis and Configuration of a Control Loading Solution for a Rotary Wing Flight Simulator

This paper presents the design methodologies of a Control Loading System (CLS) drive model for the Research and Didactics Simulator (ReDSim) of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). The analysis of the CLS hardware and interface software is presented. The CLS drive model is intended as an irreversible flight control system of a rotary wing aircraft’s collective control, with trim system and force feedback capabilities, mainly as a function of the lever’s position. The CLS motor’s control parameters are set to fit the application’s performance requirements. The drive model is developed in MATLAB/Simulink and is integrated with the XV-15 tiltrotor model of the ReDSim. Two different system identification techniques, the Least Squares and a convex relaxation-based Set-Membership approach, are used to estimate the parameters of the CLS hardware and consequently assess its fidelity to a model of reference. The implementation in the ReDSim has been rated by the pilot according to the Cooper-Harper handling qualities rating scale.