Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of a Morphing Variable-Propulsion Aircraft

Morphing/variable propulsion aircraft achieve cross-domain flight capabilities by altering wing area and thrust vectoring for applications such as vertical takeoff, afterburner flight in the air, and other complex flight scenarios. Due to the complexity of controlling configuration changes in these aircraft, flight testing entails high risks and time consumption. This study focuses on a 10kg morphing/variable propulsion aircraft capable of vertical takeoff in rotor configuration, low-speed cruising with a high aspect ratio configuration (32 m/s), and high-speed missile strike configuration (152 m/s). A hardware-in-the-loop simulation system is developed to enable multiple configuration changes and variable thrust propulsion. Firstly, three dynamic models for different configurations are built using the JSBSim physics engine, switching between models during simulation through external triggers. Secondly, flight controllers based on the PX4 VTOL airframe are tuned for different configurations through simulated flights. Finally, high-fidelity rendering of the aircraft is achieved in UE4 using PX4 state outputs. Through comprehensive hardware-in-the-loop flight simulation testing, the effectiveness of the simulation system is validated.