Detection of aircraft touchdown using longitudinal acceleration and continuous wavelet transformation

Bakunowicz, Jerzy; Rzucid?o, Pawe?

Abstract

The paper presents a methodology enabling the detection of aircraft touchdowns based on data obtained from accelerometers attached to the structural parts of the airframe in the cockpit or passenger compartment. Precise determination of the moment and place of touchdown of the main landing gear is challenging when analysing parameters such as height, flight speed and rate of descent. During the tests of the I-31T aircraft, it turned out that vibrations of the aircraft structure caused by the contact of the front and main landing gear with the ground have a repetitive character. In particular, this applies to longitudinal acceleration. The use of continuous wavelet analysis (CWT) allowed finding unique periodic features of the landing phenomenon that distinguish it from other forms of vibration occurring in individual flight phases. Ground and flight observations of experimental aeroplane MP-02 Czajka verified the proposed method of virtual touchdown detection. The results presented in this paper justify that this method may find broader application, especially for the light aircraft class.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 15, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 17, 2020
• Publication Date: Dec 17, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 1, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 3, 2021
• Journal: Sensors
• Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 24
• Article Number: 7231
• Pages: 1-25
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247231
• Keywords: virtual sensing; touchdown; detection; aeroplane; light aircraft; landing gear; continuous wavelet; accelerometers; acceleration; MEMS
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7087401