3-Aircraft Formation Flight Experiment

This paper presents the results obtained from a formation flight experiment using 3 YF-22 research UAVs built and developed at West Virginia University. In the planned 3-aircraft flight configuration, a radio control (R/C) pilot maintains manual control of the `leader' aircraft while two autonomous `follower' aircraft maintain a pre-defined position and orientation with respect to the lead vehicle. The flight-testing program associated with this effort was quite substantial and involved approximately 100 sorties involving all three aircraft models in the program. Initial flight-testing phases evaluated a variety of issues, including; aircraft handling qualities, dynamic characteristics, electronic payload performance; specifically the data acquiring capabilities and the real time execution of control laws. During the final flight season program, a total of five formation flight experiments were successfully performed; specifically four 2-aircraft formations and one 3-aircraft formation flight demonstration