ヘリコプタ着陸進入時における地上騒音低減のための最適飛行 : 最適な高度・速度制御について

This study aims to obtain the optimal flights of a helicopter that reduce ground noise in its landing approach with an optimization technique and to conduct flight tests for confirming the effectiveness of the optimal solutions. Past experiments of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) shows the noise of the helicopter varies significantly according to its flight conditions, especially depending on the flight path angle. We therefore build a simple noise model of the helicopter, in which the level of the noise generated from a point sound source is a function only of the flight path angle. By using equations of motion for flight in a vertical plane, we define optimal control problems for minimizing noise levels measured at points on the ground surface, and obtain optimal controls for specified initial altitudes, flight constraints, and wind conditions. The obtained optimal flights avoid the flight path angle which generates the large noise and decrease the flight time, which are different from the conventional flight. Finally, we verify the validity of the optimal flight patterns by the flight experiments. The actual flights following the optimal ones also result in the noise reduction, which shows the effectiveness of the optimization.