Autonomous Guidance and Flight Control on a Partial-Authority Black Hawk Helicopter

Abstract

An autonomous guidance and flight control system was integrated and flight tested on a Black Hawk helicopter as part of an effort to provide all weather capability for U.S. Army fleet rotorcraft. The guidance and flight-control system components were previously flight tested on a full-authority helicopter, and were adapted to fly on the partial-authority test helicopter of this paper. The main autonomy guidance components consisted of the Risk Minimizing Obstacle Field Navigation algorithm, Safe Landing Area Determination algorithm, Mission Manager, and Integrated Cueing Environment. These components provided reactive obstacle avoidance guidance, landing site selection, pilot/autonomy interaction, and pilot situational awareness for degraded visual environments. In addition to the autonomy components, the Autonomous Partial-Authority Flight Control System provided a fully stabilized path-following capability to the guidance components. This paper describes how these components were adapted to a partial-authority helicopter that is typical of the current U.S. Army fleet. To test the system, a laser detection and ranging unit was used as a surrogate ranging device in lieu of an all-weather sensor system that was concurrently under development. Flight test results are presented from the fully integrated system navigating through terrain, selecting landing sites, and autonomously landing, while simultaneously keeping the pilot situationally aware of the autonomy’s intent.