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Abstract—The WingBug was an innovative concept by Straight 21-126, “Temporary 2 (T-2) Modification of Aerospace
& Level Technologies to measure airspeed, altitude, Vehicles”. Civilian aircraft can be put into “Experimental”
temperature, Euler angles, angular rates, and acceleration category, get a Supplemental Type Certificate, or fly under
information. The unit was portable, self-powered, streamed an FAA Form 337. These processes (for both military and
data via WiFi to any tablet or smart phone in the cockpit, and
civilian aircraft) require paperwork, time, and money. A
cost less than $1000. It measured 8”x3”x3”, weighed 6 ounces,
and used a GoPro mount to attach externally to any aircraft. non-intrusive, self-powered, portable DAS avoids these
This paper covers results from the initial flight test program processes and can be reused on other aircraft.
flown at Florida Institute of Technology in 2016. The WingBug
was flown on a Piper Warrior. Data from the WingBug were Table 1: Flight Test Parameter List
compared to “truth” data from the Piper Warrior. Test points Parameter Units
were limited to static points (e.g. constant bank-angle turns). An
evaluation of the tablet display was also performed. Overall, the
1 Indicated Airspeed mph
prototype WingBug shows promising potential as a flight test 2 Pressure Altitude feet
system or primary flight reference system for home-built 3 Outside Air Temperature (OAT) °C
aircraft. The recommendations provided can be used by 4 Pitch Attitude degrees
Straight & Level Technologies to further improve their system. 5 Bank Angle degrees
6 Heading degrees
TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 Pitch Rate degrees/sec
1. INTRODUCTION...................................................... 1 8 Roll Rate degrees/sec
2. AIRPLANE AND WINGBUG DESCRIPTION ............. 4 9 Yaw Rate degrees/sec
3. TEST PROCEDURES................................................ 5 10 Normal Acceleration (nz) g's
4. RESULTS ................................................................ 6 11 Elevator Position degrees
5. CONCLUSION ......................................................... 8 12 Aileron Position degrees
REFERENCES ............................................................. 8 13 Rudder Position degrees
BIOGRAPHY ............................................................... 8 14 Pitch Control Force pounds
15 Aileron Control Force pounds
1. INTRODUCTION 16 Rudder Control Force pounds
Any flight test program involves recording data to get 17 Engine RPM RPM
answers for decisions makers. Data can be hand-recorded 18 Engine Manifold Pressure inches Hg
from reading cockpit gages or acquired using a Data 19 Engine Oil Temperature °C
Acquisition System (DAS). Depending on the program, the 20 Engine Oil Pressure psi
list of parameters can be small (e.g. airspeed, pressure 21 Angle-of-Attack degrees
altitude, ambient temperature) or large such as the list in 22 Sideslip Angle degrees
Table 1. Along with the list of parameters comes the sample
rate. Some parameters are needed every minute, and others The cost of a DAS can vary greatly. Dedicated systems
are needed at 10 Hz or higher. installed on modified military aircraft can cost over $1M.
Costs are impacted by the number of parameters, the
A DAS typically requires an aircraft to be modified. In accuracy, and the sample rate. As with other electronics, the
military aircraft, this can be done by following published size and cost of some sensors (e.g. inertial measurement
guidance. For example, the Air Force uses AFMC Instruction
978-1-5090-1613-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
1
units) is decreasing, while accuracy is improving. In addition, something. The potentiometers were each connected to the
computers and data processing software (with more DAS as shown in Figure 4. Ultimately, data from the
capability) are also coming down in price. These trends are potentiometers were fused with parameters 4-10 using a
good for flight test. National Instruments Data Acquisition (DAQ) component.
In 2014, Florida Institute of Technology built the DAS shown The LORD Microstrain inertial measurement unit (IMU)
in Figure 1 for less than $25K. It sensed and recorded came with a Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS
parameters 4-13 in Table 1 at sample rates up to 100 Hz. To antenna is shown in Figure 4 on the top of the DAS. Next to
cover parameters 1-3 and 17-20, GoPro cameras (shown in the GPS antenna are buttons for system master power, record
Figure 2) were used. The DAS turned the cameras on and off, on/off, GPS status, and event marks. Data were displayed in
but engineers had to view the video files and record the data real-time via Bluetooth to two ASUS tablets programmed
by hand at whatever frame rate was needed. In practice, with LabVIEW. The displays could be customized with dials,
engineers skipped the GoPro videos and simply recorded digital fields, graphs (or strip charts), etc. Units, axis ranges,
parameters 1-3 and 17-20 from cockpit gages real-time on number of decimal places, etc. could all be adjusted based on
test flights. For static points, hand-recorded data works fine. user preference. As with any tablet, screen captures could be
done at any time with the simple press of a button.
2
Power to the main components inside the DAS came from When Straight & Level Technologies approached Florida
two rechargeable 20V DeWalt batteries. These two batteries Tech with their WingBug concept, we were eager to try it out.
provided over four hours of continuous operation. A list of On paper, it seemed attractive. The unit was portable,
main components is provided in Table 2. self-powered, streamed data via WiFi to any tablet or smart
phone in the cockpit, and cost less than $1000. It measured
Table 2: DAS Main Components
8”x3”x3”, weighed 6 ounces, and used a GoPro mount to
Computer Intel NUC PC attach externally to any aircraft. It provided parameters 1-10
DAQ National Instruments USB-6212 in Table 1.
IMU LORD Microstrain 3DM-GX3-35 with GPS
In addition to a flight test DAS, the WingBug could prove
While real-time data were available on the tablets, post-flight valuable for home-built aircraft. Rather than run tubes and
data were available from files automatically saved to the Intel cables, along with mechanical instruments or expensive glass
NUC PC. These files could be obtained by inserting a thumb cockpits, people could mount an iPad on the dashboard and
drive into a USB slot on the side of the DAS. The DAS was fly with WingBug data. Figure 6 shows an example of the
designed to operate without opening the outer shell. The 10” traditional “six-pack” layout as depicted in the Pilot’s
wide by 8” deep by 12” high shell could be strapped down in Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge [1]. The WingBug
an aircraft by feeding nylon straps through the black brackets could drive all six gages. Obviously, a more rigorous test and
shown in either Figure 1 or Figure 4. evaluation program would need to occur before the system
The volume of the DAS was chosen to allow for future could be approved for primary flight references.
growth. As Figure 5 shows, there is space for adding pitot-
static ports, pressure transducers, control force connectors,
etc. The National Instruments USB-6212 also had capacity
for future growth.
6
Figure 12 shows a linear fit of the data from Table 8. vector until 100 minutes later (i.e. after a typical one-hour test
Obviously, the scatter in the data results in a lower R2 value. flight). We recommend Straight & Level Technologies look
More data at different altitudes is needed to refine the curve further into the IMU settings to see if a similar feature exists.
fit, which may prove nonlinear.
Table 10: Attitude Comparison
Aircraft WingBug ∆ Aircraft WingBug ∆
pitch pitch roll roll
+10° -32° 22° +20° -16° 4°
+5° +15° 10° +30° +31° 1°
0° +10° 10° +45° +36° 9°
-5° -23° 18° -20° -17° 3°
-10° -19° 9° -30° -20° 10°
-45° -79° 34°