On-line identification of ship airwake disturbances on rotorcraft

An on-line identification algorithm for modeling ship airwake disturbances was developed and implemented in real-time simulation. Rotorcraft are subjected to aerodynamic disturbances during ship-based operations due to airwake and moving ground effect. These disturbances can result in significant pilot workload, and their effects are difficult to model and validate. In this study, the ship airwake disturbances are represented as a time averaged flowfield along with unsteady disturbances modeled as a stochastic process. This paper focuses on algorithms that identify linear filters to model the unsteady disturbances. The algorithms identify the filters on-line as the rotorcraft operates in the airwake. The feasibility of the on-line algorithm was demonstrated in real-time simulations.