It is no secret that there is an autopilot system in helicopters and airplanes. In airplanes, the pilot can transfer control to the autopilot, including for landing, which is very useful in poor visibility conditions. The helicopter autopilot, after gaining altitude, is able to control the aircraft along the flight route, move along the course and maintain altitude, make turns, but will not be able to land the helicopter on the runway.
The Skyryse company went further in its tests and created a helicopter control system from the ground, completely freeing the pilot from controlling the aircraft. The unmanned helicopter control system was named Luna, which is included in the Flight Stack kit, which includes touch panels for controlling the helicopter. The developers claim that with their system, any aircraft can be turned into a drone. The helicopter is controlled using a tablet or joystick.
The company is testing and has already completed more than one autonomous flight of a helicopter under Luna control. The system is installed on a Robinson R44 helicopter. The control system, after modification, can be adapted for any helicopter.
Of course, using this kind of control system, the question of flight safety arises. Each of the subsystems has triple redundancy, that is, in order for a failure to occur, three duplicate modules of the subsystem responsible for a particular piloting parameter must fail. Purely theoretically, such a system can be considered as safe as possible. A helicopter or any other aircraft must be equipped with sensors, detectors and a radar station to evaluate flight information, analyze parameters and read data by the Luna control system.
Luna can be used as an autopilot, to relieve the pilot, but is also capable of fully conducting a flight from takeoff to landing of the helicopter. Of course, it is being developed in the direction of full automation of the flight without the participation of the pilot. For this, it is also necessary to equip helicopter pads with special sensors.
The sensors monitor the situation around the runway and transmit it to the helicopter. The helicopter reads the transmitted information about the location of other aircraft and aircraft in the runway approach area, including unmanned aerial vehicles and drones. The helicopter also receives information about weather conditions, wind speed and nature, which allows the system to analyze all aspects and take off, pilot the helicopter, as well as draw up a landing approach trajectory and safely land the helicopter. It can also independently take control in the event of unforeseen situations, loss of control by the pilot, or eliminate piloting errors by the pilot if necessary in order to minimize the risks of performing a helicopter flight.
According to experts, Luna is capable of integrating into air traffic control systems. Perhaps in the near future, helicopters under the control of an operator will make unmanned flights between cities. Such helicopters can be used in hard-to-reach places, in emergency situations where there may be a threat to human life. Today, Luna shows amazing results and allows everyone to try themselves in the role of a pilot, without having any skills in piloting a helicopter. Progress does not stand still, the future belongs to innovative technologies.
Most of the parameters and algorithms of operation are not disclosed by the developers, they are a commercial secret. For our part, we can tell you what we have learned, but also watch the tests using a video from the company.
You can watch a presentation video of a helicopter flight under the control of the Luna system on our Instagram profile.
08 MAY 2020