CDTI will finance UAV ATLANTE, with the collaboration of ADEX, EADS-CASA and GMV

The Centre for Technology Research and Development has approved a project for the design, development and validation of an adaptive flight control system (AFCS) for project ATLANTE. The AFCS will be based on Adaptive Predictive Expert Control technology and the development will be carried out in a collaboration between ADEX, EADS-CASA and GMV. The project will be divided into two phases; the first consisting of design, trial in simulation and evaluation, and the second consisting of “hardware in the loop tests for the new system followed by flight tests and certification.

ATLANTE is a long distance, unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) currently being developed as a ‘Strategic’ project, financed also by CDTI, and will be used by the Army to support operations such as target identification, line of fire correction, damage assessment and, among other things, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions. With this project, CDTI wishes also to help maximise the application of Spanish indigenous technology to support important projects within the aerospace sector.

Previous experience was obtained in the application of adaptive predictive control to the design of an adaptive autopilot for the F-8 digital-fly-by-wire (DFBW) carried out in 1975 in the Draper Laboratory with excellent results. Nevertheless there are no adaptive predictive flight control systems in spite of the considerable potential offered. For this reason, this project provides an opportunity to advance the case for this technology and improve the stability and precision of flight control.