Impacts of safety on the design of light remotely-piloted helicopter flight control systems

G. Di Rito and F. Schettini

Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 2016, vol. 149, issue C, 121-129

Abstract: This paper deals with the architecture definition and the safety assessment of flight control systems for light remotely-piloted helicopters for civil applications. The methods and tools to be used for these activities are standardised for conventional piloted aircraft, while they are currently a matter of discussion in case of light remotely-piloted systems flying into unsegregated airspaces. Certification concerns are particularly problematic for aerial systems weighing from 20 to 150kgf, since the airworthiness permission is granted by national authorities. The lack of specific requirements actually requires to analyse both the existing standards for military applications and the certification guidelines for civil systems, up to derive the adequate safety objectives. In this work, after a survey on applicable certification documents for the safety objectives definition, the most relevant functional failures of a light remotely-piloted helicopter are identified and analysed via Functional Hazard Assessment. Different architectures are then compared by means of Fault-Tree Analysis, highlighting the contributions to the safety level of the main elements of the flight control system (control computers, servoactuators, antenna) and providing basic guidelines on the required redundancy level.

Keywords: Light UAS; Rotary-wing systems; Failure hazard assessment; Fault-tree analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reensy:v:149:y:2016:i:c:p:121-129

DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2015.12.012

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