Global Model Identification of a General Aviation Aircraft

A nonlinear global dynamic model is presented for a general aviation aircraft. The model is estimated from flight data using output-error in the time domain. Orthogonal phase-optimized multisines, frequency sweeps, and conventional handbook maneuvers are prepared and injected open-loop at several flight conditions. The maneuvers are injected automatically using an actuator system and a maneuver injection software as perturbations to the pilots commands. Kinematic consistency checks are performed utilizing a Rauch-Tung-Striebel smoother. The identified nonlinear aerodynamic model shows a good fit to modeling data with good prediction capability.