Aerodynamic parameter identification method of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

System identification theory is a impactful tool for modelling vehicle dynamics. Aiming at the situation that the UAV flight test conditions are limited and complete flight data cannot be obtained, a method to estimate the aerodynamic angle and aerodynamic coefficients based on measurable data is proposed. Taking a flying-wing UAV as an example, the longitudinal and transverse-lateral related aerodynamic parameters are identified and calculated by the least squares method, respectively. The comparison between the test data and simulation results verifies the correctness and practicality of the methods. Considering the mathematical nature of the discriminative modelling, the method is generally applicable to fixed-wing UAVs of all aerodynamic layouts.