UAV Systems Engineering · M8-L6 · Guided lab
Prepare a flight-test acceptance plan
Write the plan that says, before the flight, what “pass” means and when to abort.
What you will do
You will write a staged flight-test plan for the Capstone 4 vehicle. This is a planning exercise: operating a real UAV requires compliance with the regulations and approvals that apply where and how you fly, and qualified personnel. If you cannot fly, plan the equivalent simulation campaign.
Before you start
- Lessons M8-T3 to M8-T6 are recommended (verification, test levels, flight-test planning, test cases) and M8-T1 (requirements).
- Your requirements list and FMEA.
Test card template
| Field | Content |
|---|---|
| ID, title, objective | What the test shows and which requirement it verifies |
| Entry criteria | Previous tests passed; weather, site, battery, calibration valid, simulation equivalent passed |
| Configuration | Software and parameter versions, payload, calibrations (recorded) |
| Procedure | Numbered steps, with expected response at each |
| Instrumentation | Logs, ground truth, telemetry, cameras |
| Pass criteria | Numerical limits with statistics (percentiles, runs) |
| Abort criteria | Specific conditions and the action: who calls it, what the pilot does |
| Risk and mitigation | Hazards, safety pilot, geofence, safe landing areas |
| Results | Filled after the test: data location, pass/fail, anomalies |
Staging
- Ground: sensor health, calibration verification, failsafe triggers with props off, link loss test.
- Tethered or low hover: control, estimator consistency (NIS), vibration.
- Benign flight: GNSS available, GNSS-denied segment shortened, simple trajectory.
- Nominal mission: the full route in the target environment.
- Fault injection: one fault at a time at safe altitude and distance (GNSS removed by configuration, camera covered, LiDAR disabled), then combinations.
- Margin tests: highest speed, low battery, worst lighting, as allowed by the safety case.
Each stage has entry criteria that depend on the results of the previous one. A failed test blocks the next stage until a root cause is found and the change is regression-tested in simulation.
Traceability matrix
Create a table with one row per requirement and columns for the verification method (test, analysis, inspection, demonstration), the test card IDs, the result and the status. Any requirement without a test card is a gap; any test card without a requirement is waste.
How to know it worked
- At least eight test cards across the six stages, each with numeric pass criteria and abort criteria.
- A traceability matrix with no empty verification entries.
- A statement of what is not tested and the operating limitation it implies.
If it does not work
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Pass criteria are vague | Words instead of numbers | Use limits with statistics: “95th percentile error below over runs” |
| No abort criteria | Left to judgement in flight | State conditions and the action beforehand |
| Plan jumps to full mission | Stages skipped | Require entry criteria that depend on the previous stage’s results |
References
Record your progress
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