A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle's design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly's small-scale component aerodynamic database.
","abstract_html":"<p>A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle's design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly's small-scale component aerodynamic database.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chase, Adam Thomas"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Aerospace Engineering","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Aerospace Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Robert McDonald"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:31:28Z","subjects":["UAV","performance","design","testing","drag polar","system identification","Aeronautical Vehicles"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2014.38"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2014.38","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2014.38","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1191","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Robert McDonald"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chase, Adam Thomas"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-05-02T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Aerospace Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Aerospace Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["UAV","performance","design","testing","drag polar","system identification","Aeronautical Vehicles"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1191","10.15368/theses.2014.38"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle's design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly's small-scale component aerodynamic database.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Flight Testing Small UAVs for Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Robert McDonald"],"dc:creator":["Chase, Adam Thomas"],"dc:date.available":["2014-05-02T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["A flight data acquisition system was developed to aid unmanned vehicle designers in verifying the vehicle's design performance. The system is reconfigurable and allows the designer to choose the correct combination of complexity, risk, and cost for a given flight test. The designer can also reconfigure the system to meet packaging and integration requirements. System functionality, repeatbility, and accuracy was validated by collecting data during multiple flights of a radio-controlled aircraft. Future work includes sensor fusion, thrust prediction methods, stability and control derivative estimation, and growing Cal Poly's small-scale component aerodynamic database.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1191","10.15368/theses.2014.38"],"dc:subject":["UAV","performance","design","testing","drag polar","system identification","Aeronautical Vehicles"],"dc:title":["Flight Testing Small UAVs for Aerodynamic Parameter Estimation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Aerospace Engineering"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Aerospace Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:31:28Z"}