An autonomous guidance and flight control system was integrated and flight tested on a Black Hawk helicopter as part of an effort to provide all weather capability for U.S. Army fleet rotorcraft. The guidance and flight-control system components were previously flight tested on a full-authority helicopter, and were adapted to fly on the partial-authority test helicopter of this paper. The main autonomy guidance components consisted of the Risk Minimizing Obstacle Field Navigation algorithm, Safe Landing Area Determination algorithm, Mission Manager, and Integrated Cueing Environment. These components provided reactive obstacle avoidance guidance, landing site selection, pilot/autonomy interaction, and pilot situational awareness for degraded visual environments. In addition to the autonomy components, the Autonomous Partial-Authority Flight Control System provided a fully stabilized path-following capability to the guidance components. This paper describes how these components were adapted to a partial-authority helicopter that is typical of the current U.S. Army fleet. To test the system, a laser detection and ranging unit was used as a surrogate ranging device in lieu of an all-weather sensor system that was concurrently under development. Flight test results are presented from the fully integrated system navigating through terrain, selecting landing sites, and autonomously landing, while simultaneously keeping the pilot situationally aware of the autonomy’s intent.

为了给美军舰队旋翼飞机提供全天候作战能力，该系统集成了自主制导和飞行控制系统，并在黑鹰直升机上进行了飞行测试。该制导和飞行控制系统组件先前已经在全权限直升机上进行了飞行测试，并且经过改装后可以在本文的半权限测试直升机上进行飞行。自主指导的主要组成部分包括：最小化障碍物风险导航算法，安全着陆区域确定算法，任务管理器和集成提示环境。这些组件提供了反应性避障指南，着陆点选择，飞行员/自主互动以及飞行员对降级的视觉环境的态势感知。除了自治部分之外，自主部分权限飞行控制系统为制导组件提供了完全稳定的追迹能力。本文介绍了如何将这些组件改装为目前美国陆军机队典型的部分授权直升机。为了测试该系统，使用激光检测和测距单元作为替代测距设备，代替了同时开发的全天候传感器系统。飞行测试结果是由完全集成的系统显示的，它可以导航地形，选择降落地点并自动降落，同时使飞行员随时随地了解自治的意图。本文介绍了如何将这些组件改装为目前美国陆军机队典型的部分授权直升机。为了测试该系统，使用激光检测和测距单元作为替代测距设备，代替了同时开发的全天候传感器系统。飞行测试结果是由完全集成的系统显示的，它可以导航地形，选择降落地点并自动降落，同时使飞行员随时随地了解自治的意图。本文介绍了如何将这些组件改装为目前美国陆军机队典型的部分授权直升机。为了测试该系统，使用激光检测和测距单元作为替代测距设备，代替了同时开发的全天候传感器系统。飞行测试结果是由完全集成的系统显示的，它可以导航地形，选择降落地点并自动降落，同时使飞行员随时随地了解自治的意图。