Application of Design of Experiments to Flight Test: A Case Study

作者：Tucker Aaron A^*; Hutto Gregory T; Dagli Cihan H

来源：Journal of Aircraft, 2010, 47(2): 458-463.

DOI：10.2514/1.40301

Modern flight testing tends to be a complex, expensive undertaking, so any increases in efficiency result in considerable savings. Design of experiments is a statistical methodology that enables a highly efficient investigation where only the samples needed are collected and analyzed. Increased information is garnered from the data collected, whereas the number of data points required to understand the system is reduced. In this limited effort, an actual flight-test program serves as a case study to compare and contrast five different designs to explore a flight-test envelope. The case-study data are analyzed using each designed experiment, and the results are compared and contrasted as a cost-benefit relationship between flight-test resources expended and system understanding gained (i.e., statistical confidence and power). The design of experiments methodologies, as applied to this case study, show a 50 to 80% reduction in flight-test resources yet produce similar levels of statistical confidence and power. In an era of restricted budgets and time lines, careful design and thoughtful analysis of flight-test experiments can make the difference between a failed or canceled flight-test program and the successful fielding of a needed capability.

• 出版日期2010-4