Dynamics and Simulation of the Effects of Wind on UAVs and Airborne Wind Measurement

This paper presents a simulation of wind effects on a flying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a simulation of wind measurements taken from an airborne UAV. The wind acts as a disturbance on the flying UAV by altering its attitude and velocity. Therefore, the airborne measurement should be taken dynamically to reflect the instantaneous motion of a vehicle that is affected by wind. In order to understand and validate the algorithm that measures wind and the interaction between wind and the UAV, an investigation using simulation is extremely valuable. Considering real applications, this study implements modeling of the interaction between wind and a UAV from the perspective of the UAV’s onboard sensors, and a wind measurement formula is clarified based on the established model. The results of the simulation confirm that, if an accurate measurements for angle-of-attack and sideslip are available, the wind can be accurately measured regardless of the control scheme used in flight.