Longitudinal Control for Balloon-Borne Launched Solar Powered UAVs in Near-Space

Aiming to improve the pull-up control performance in the process of releasing balloonborne solar powered UAVs(Unmanned Aerial Vehicles),this paper establishes the full flight mechanics equations with flexible modes,and proposes the control method suitable for engineering application.To be specific,the authors first calculate the real aerodynamic force on horizontal stabilizer by comparing the fuselage deformation in ballooning test with that in static loading test.Furthermore,considering fuselage elastic deformation,the pitching moment coefficient is obtained and the influence of airspeed and elevator angle on pitching moment coefficient and control surface efficiency are analysed.Second,the authors establish a complete flight mechanics model,including elastic structural dynamic model and rigid flight dynamic model,by comprehensively considering the aerodynamic data,the relationship between fuselage deformation and load,as well as the ballooning test.Third,the authors perform the numerical simulation and comparison study on control performance between rigid model and flexible model.Moreover,the authors implement model modification based on the low altitude flight test and steady-state point analysing.Finally,a scaled UAV is used to complete the balloon-borne launching test.The results show that the longitudinal control method can analyse the longitudinal aerodynamics and control characteristics accurately,and could be effectively utilized in the pull-up control of the balloon-borne solar powered UAV.

Retrieval of ultraviolet skylight radiances and O_3 slant column densities from balloon-borne limb spectrometer

With a novel light-weight and absolutely calibrated ultraviolet （UV） spectrometer, UV skylight radiances and O3 slant column densities are measured by balloon-borne limb measurements in Xinjiang area, China. UV skylight radiances measured at the height of 31 km are compared with the results from Modtran in the wavelength range from 290 to 420 nm. O3 slant column densities are derived from radiance spectra in the Huggins bands （320 - 335 nm） using differential optical absorption spectroscopy method. And the parameter exhibits a good correlation with the same value simulated by radiative transfer model （Tracy）. The O3 profile simultaneously measured by an O3 sonde is used as input in Tracy calculations. The O3 sonde is launched on the same balloon.

Dust particles in free troposphere over Chinese desert region revealed from balloon borne measurements under calm weather conditions

The Taklamakan Desert in China is one of the major source regions for Asian dust particles.All balloon-borne measurements in this report were carried out in Dunhuang,in the Taklamakan Desert,during calm weather conditions.The aerosol number concentration,size distribution,mass concentration,and horizontal mass flux due to westerly wind were investigated.The measurements were performed on 17 August 2001,17 October 2001,11 January 2002,and 30 April 2002.Five channels(0.3,0.5,0.8,1.2,and 3.6μm in diameter)were used in the Optical Particle Counter for particle measurements.The aerosol number concentration in the winter season(11 January 2002)at 3–5 km was very high.Variation of free-tropospheric aerosols on 30 April 2002 was noticeable.A super-micron range was noticeable in the size distribution of all the measurements.Many variations in temperature and aerosol concentration were found at these inversion points.High values of estimated mass concentration of aerosols were frequently observed in the atmosphere near the ground(i.e.,1–2 km);and interestingly,relatively high concentrations were frequently detected above 2 km from the surface.Wind patterns observed using ERA-Interim data at 500 and 850 hPa showed that westerly winds dominated in the Taklamakan Desert during the observation period.The average horizontal mass flux of background Asian dust due to westerly wind was observed to fall within the range of 58.5–1219 tons km?2 d?1.Vertical profiles of aerosol number concentrations showed that significant transport of aerosols dominated in the westerly region(i.e.,4–7 km).