Aircraft System Identification: Theory and Practice, 2e

Aircraft System Identification provides a comprehensive explanation of both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical application of aircraft modeling based on experimental data – also known as aircraft system identification. Much of the material comes from the authors’ own research and teaching activities at NASA Langley that involve real-world applications of system identification to aircraft. The book uses actual flight test and wind tunnel data for examples, and is intended to be a resource for researchers and practicing engineers, as well as a textbook for postgraduate and senior-level courses. 

All aspects of the aircraft system identification problem are covered: model postulation, experiment design, instrumentation, data compatibility analysis, model structure determination, state and parameter estimation, and model validation. The methods described in the book have been successfully applied to projects such as flight envelope expansion for new or modified aircraft, verification and correction of results from wind-tunnel tests or analytic methods such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), control system design and refinement, stability analysis, simulation development, flying qualities assessment, and accident investigation, among others. 

The book is integrated with SIDPAC (System IDentification Programs for AirCraft), a software toolbox written in MATLAB. The methods implemented in SIDPAC are explained in the book, so that the reader can apply SIDPAC tools to solve system identification problems. In addition, SIDPAC software can be obtained by request from the NASA Langley Research Center.