Comprehensive System Identification of Ducted Fan UAVs - Cal Poly

2.2.2 Bench Test TechniquesBench testing was used in cases where components were to be tested withoutactually installing them on the vehicle or testing them while in flight. This method wasprimarily applied to the testing of the servo actuators. The search for and classification ofactuators meeting the requirements of the vehicles made it impractical to install thenumerous actuators on the vehicle for testing. In this case, the actuators were tested whilehooked up to specific measuring equipment. Frequency domain analysis with CIFER wasapplied to determine the dynamic characteristics of the components.2.3 Manufacturer SpecificationsThe use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) devices and components for thebuildup of inertial measuring units (IMU) on the vehicles provides for manufacturerspecifications and ratings of component performance. This is important when directaccess of the components and hardware in the loop (HIL) bench testing is not available.The identification of the rate gyros, accelerometers, magnetometers, GPS receiver, andactuators all benefited from the provision of manufacturer identified errors andperformance specifications. In general, these specifications are slightly optimistic andreflect the specific measuring procedure applied by the manufacturer. Averages areusually presented by manufacturers while component-specific results are required insome modeling cases. Due to time constraints and availability of hardware for testing,- 14 -