A method to analyze the flyability of airplane trajectories with specified engine power

Gilles Labonté, Vincent Roberge and Mohammed Tarbouchi

Abstract

This article introduces a formalism for the analysis of airplane trajectories on which the motion is determined by specifying the power of the engines. It explains a procedure to solve the equations of motion to obtain the value of the relevant flight parameters. It then enumerates the constraints that the dynamical abilities of the airplane impose on the amount of fuel used, the speed, the load factor, the lift coefficient, the positivity and upper boundedness of the power available. Examples of analysis are provided to illustrate the method proposed, with rectilinear and circular trajectories. Two very different types of airplanes are used in the examples: a Silver Fox-like small UAV and a common Cessna 182 Skylane.

Key Words

airplane equation of motion; airplane trajectory; automatic trajectory planning; circular trajectory; power control; rectilinear trajectory

Address

Gilles Labonté: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Vincent Roberge, Mohammed Tarbouchi: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

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