Estimation of the Centre of Gravity of a Manoeuvring Aircraft Using Kalman Filters and the ADMIRE Aircraft Model

Previous work has shown that the centre of gravity (cg) of an aircraft can be estimated using a Kalman-Bucy filter. This paper will adopt a similar approach but use a non-linear aircraft model, and will demonstrate the estimation of the cg when the aircraft undergoes a series of manoeuvres. To cope with the non-linearities in the aircraft model the Kalman-Bucy filter coefficients for the pitching moment are modified when the aircraft manoeuvres. A number of examples are provided using the non-linear ADMIRE aircraft model, which is a complex model of a delta-canard military aircraft.