Abstract
A blimp is introduced as a stable platform for remote-sensing instruments required for unmanned aerial observation and surveillance. In order to develop flight control systems for a blimp, two series of experiments were conducted to identify flight dynamics: constrained flight tests, and indoor free-flight tests. This paper addresses the blimp configuration, experimental set-up, method for identifying dynamics, and the results of identification in comparison with the analytical estimation for each experimental method. Both tests employed a full-scale blimp. The identification method for the constrained flight tests used the extended least-squares method involving the gradient algorithm, and the indoor free-flight tests, the eigen-system realization algorithm involving the autoregressive model fitting algorithm. The results suggest that analytical formulas for estimating the parameters, including added mass effects and stability derivatives, may yield values consistent with experimentally identified ones.
