A Review of Wind Tunnel Based Virtual Flight Testing Techniques for Evaluation of Flight Control Systems

Table 3

VFT progress of the main countries developing VFT techniques.

Countries	United States	United Kingdom	Russia	India	China
Main purposes	Evaluating guidance and control system	Developing and evaluating FCL	Evaluating SRS	Identifying aerodynamic derivatives	Investigating A/FD CM and developing and evaluating FCL
Model supports	Wire suspension	Solid strut	Solid strut	Solid strut	Wire suspension, solid strut
Parameters measured	Attitudes, AFM	Attitudes	Attitudes, drag force	Attitudes, lift force	Attitudes, AFM
Form of FCS	GCS	ACS	ACS	ACS	ACS
The starting research year	1995	1980	2000	1987	2010
Test progress	Closed-loop ACT at subsonic speed (0.4~0.6 Ma)	Closed-loop ACT at low speed (0~60 m/s)	Open-loop ACT at low speed (15 m/s)	Closed-loop ACT at low speed (32 m/s)	Closed-loop ACT at transonic speed (0.9 Ma)
Research status	Under research, not applied	Applied to evaluate FCL	Applied to evaluate SRS of fighters	Applied to obtain aerodynamic derivatives	Applied to Investigate A/FD CM and develop and evaluate FCL

FCL: flight control law; SRS: spin recovery strategies; A/FD CM: coupling mechanisms of aerodynamics and flight dynamics; AFM: aerodynamic forces and moments; GCS: guidance and control system; ACS: attitude control system; and ACT: attitude control tests.