Design and implementation of man-in-the-loop unmanned airship HIL simulation system

In order to carry out the unmanned airship system ground integration and flight simulation, the hardware and software of the hardware-in-the-loop(HIL) simulation platform was developed. It was based on real-time operating system(RTOS) VxWorks, Matlab/Simulink and real time workshop(RTW), FUTABA data acquisition system and three-dimensional visual system. The biggest innovation was the usage of the FUTABA remote control (RC) equipments and pulse width modulation(PWM)/RS-422 signal transform module, thus the visual sense and the control output of the pilot could be accessed to the simulation loop. The results show that man-in-the-loop flight simulation tests can verify the function of control mode switching and the effects of attitude and track control. The tests also improve the pilot's proficiency in controlling this type of the unmanned airship directly to land steady in case of emergency.