Cambridge Research Associates proposes to develop a design methodology to be applied to the automatic unmanned air vehicle (UAV) landing control problem. The methodology will be used to determine landing control system requirements for UAVs , specifically for maritime UAVs which must land on ships subject to a variety of sea conditions. Cambridge will expand upon UAV simulations already developed at its Integration Simulation Laboratory, and will utilize recent advances in dynamic interaction theory. Dynamic interaction control theory will be used to first determine an "impedance" for the UAV that optimizes landing Probabilities, and then specify control requirements which achieve the optimal impedance for a given air vehicle. This methodology will be implemented across a spectrum of air vehicle classes, subject to varying environmental conditions. Thus, the methodology will determine control requirements as a function of air vehicle parameters, and environmental conditions.
