Modeling of the Skywalker X8 Fixed-Wing UAV: Flight Tests and System Identification

Abstract

This paper proposes a combination of wind-tunnel tests and flight experiments to find an aerodynamic model of the Skywalker X8 airframe. The static coefficients resulting from wind-tunnel tests are augmented with a parsimonious damping model that we find by using flight test data and a sequentially thresholded least squares algorithm. Experimental results show significant improvements to the pre-existing baseline model.