AUTOMATIC GUIDANCE AND CONTROL FOR HELICOPTER OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE

The helicopter nap-of-the-earth flight problem has previously been dis cussed in various papers. The concept of automatic guidance involving obstacle avoidance requires a sophisticated obstacle detection system to provide three-dimensional obstacle and terrain data in flight in a hostile and unknown environment, Passive imaging sensors, augmented by selective use of low-detectability active sensors, will likely be nee ded to maximize covertness and safety, thus necessitating data fusion, The sensor data, limited by intervisibility constraints of the enviro nment, suggest the use of heuristic arguments in night-path planning o ver conventional analytic techniques. In addition, explicit considerat ion of vehicle capability is essential in the autopilot design to assu re safe flight in such close proximity to the ground, This paper descr ibes the automatic obstacle avoidance guidance and control functions a nd the implementation of these functions and a mock obstacle detection system in a graphical simulation for evaluation.