VOJNOTEHNIČKI GLASNIK / MILITARY TECHNICAL COURIER, 2016.

, Vol 64, No 3

OPEN LOOP CONTROL OF THE

FIVE-AXIS MISSILE AND TARGET
FLIGHT MOTION SIMULATOR
IMPLEMENTATION
Nataša D. Kljajića, Miloš I. Kostićb, Miloš V. Pavićc
Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia,
Military Technical Institute, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia
a
e-mail: [email protected],
ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9708-0964
b
e-mail: [email protected],
ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7132-4780
c
e-mail: [email protected],
ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0013-9745
DOI: 10.5937/vojtehg64-9493
FIELD: Electrical Engineering
ARTICLE TYPE: Professional Paper
ARTICLE LANGUAGE: English

Summary:
An important phase in missile systems development is flight
testing and simulation in the environmental conditions dictated by the
operation the system is made for. Since field testing of complex
systems means a big financial burden and a time consuming process,
hardware in the loop (HIL) simulations represent a very effective
solution for saving both costs and time. This paper presents an
implementation of a control application that integrates synchronized
data generation and acquisition on the five-axis missile and target flight
motion simulator owned by the HIL laboratory. The described
simulation application is a result of a missile development engineer’s
need for a simple way to acquire information on a real missile
response, when desired control signals are provided. The solution is
realized in LabVIEW software using a robust software design
architecture named “classic state machine”.
Key words: tests, simulations, missiles, data acquisition, signal
generation, state machine, synchronized measurements, LabVIEW,
hardware in the loop.

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Introduction
Surface-to-air missile systems are developed to meet specified
tactical and operational requirements in environmental conditions
dictated by the operation itself. From the initial formulation of the concept
for a new missile system to the end of the life cycle of the missile, there is
a continuous need to predict the performance of alternative designs of
the missile. It is important to emphasize that computational modelling and
simulations with a set of partial differential equations bring uncertainty
and errors when switching to realistic application (Oberkampf, DeLand,
Rutherford, Diegert, Alvin, 2001). This happens because it is not easy to
incorporate all environmental interactions into a mathematical model.
That is why the most valuable source of information is missile field testing
followed by missile flight simulation (USA, Department of Defense, 1995).
Since field testing presents enormous financial cost, especially in the
missile development domain, where field testing means a destruction of a
missile itself, hardware in the loop simulations have proven to be a very
cost-effective solution. Also, there is more pressure nowadays to get
products to market faster and to reduce design cycle time. This has led to
a need for dynamic testing, where components are tested while in use
with the entire system, either real or simulated, with real-time hardware
and software. A missile flight simulation is a way to find the missile
performance under varying dynamics that is impossible to find by flight
tests or by an analytical solution, so even nowadays this is a hot
research topic (Awad, Wang, 2014). So, hardware in the loop (HIL)
simulations become an integrated part of the design and testing cycle
(National Instruments, 2008).
The simulation application described in detail in this paper is a result
of a need of missile development engineers for a simple way to acquire
information on a real missile response when desired control signals are
provided.

HIL simulations
A hardware-in-the-loop simulation enables a highly realistic
simulation of equipment in an operational environment. A typical HIL
system includes sensors to receive data from the control system,
actuators to send data, a controller to process data, a human-machine
interface (HMI) and a development post simulation analysis platform
(National Instruments, 2008).

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Hardware in the loop laboratory, shown in Figure 1, is specialized for

the HIL simulation of missile guidance and control systems, with real
hardware, data acquisition, and signal processing.

Figure 1 – HIL laboratory with five axis missile and target flight simulator
Рис. 1 – ПАМ Лабораторный пятиосевой имитатор движения ракеты и цели
Slika 1 – HIL laboratorija sa petoosnim simulatorom leta rakete i cilja

The laboratory is equipped with an S-450R-5 five-axis missile and

target flight motion simulator, as well as measurement, data acquisition
and signal processing systems (National Instruments, Data Translation).
All Series S-450R-5 Flight Motion Simulators include a control console,
hydraulic power supply with supply and air installation for high pressure
working. A HIL simulation enables a development of appropriate testing
and evaluation methods of guidance as well as a control systems
simulation in a closed loop. Yaw, pitch and roll motions of a missile are
realized by the inner three axes of the simulator. The outer two axes of
the flight simulator provide the azimuth and the elevation of translational
motions of the target (Acutronic, 2011). A HIL simulation is necessary in
order to determine important technical and operational parameters of
guided missiles. Since field testing is expensive, the usage of simulation
software and hardware platforms ensures savings in guided missile and
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development.

LabVIEW technology introduction

LabVIEW is graphical programming language with its own
development environment. Numerous NASA scientists and engineers all
over the world use the LabVIEW language as a basis for instrument

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 Kljajić, N. et al., Open loop control of the five-axis missile and target flight motion simulator implementation, pp. 838–849
control, data acquisition, display, and data storage operations. With
recent releases, LabVIEW has evolved from an instrument control and
data acquisition tool to a general-purpose software development system
that can be employed for nearly any application. Additionally, the ability
to interface the LabVIEW source code and applications with other
programming languages (such as Visual Basic and Matlab) means that
software engineers can employ a combination of their favorite tools and
development environments while working on any project (Don, Bradford,
David, Hollis, Wei, 2001).

Problem overview and solution

The five-axis flight motion simulator is designed for high dynamic
testing and evaluation of small to medium sized missile guidance
systems (Don, Bradford, David, Hollis, Wei, 2001). In our case, the
testing consists of specifying and giving control command signals and
system response data acquisition. The given command signals are the
parameters of a desired missile flight, all written in a textual document.
Then, the data is processed and all the missing data is interpolated for
purpose of adjusting to application, system and measurement
requests. In the end, a system response is acquired and saved. It is
necessary to have real time measurements and that is why there is a
demand for synchronized command execution and data acquisition,
which means synchronized output data generation and input data
acquisition. For this realization, the chosen hardware is a National
Instruments NI USB 6259 data acquisition device and the software is
National Instruments LabVIEW v14.0. The acquired electrical signals
are saved and available in the most convenient form for further
analysis.

Global application structure and flowchart

Testing and measuring the structure organization is explained in the
following paragraph. Control command signals are given through the PC
application software written in LabVIEW programming language. A PC is
connected via USB to the data acquisition device NI USB 6259. Analog
inputs and outputs of the device are connected to corresponding inputs
and outputs of the flight motion simulator. This hardware configuration is
shown in Figure 2.

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Figure 2 – Hardware configuration of the presented solution

Рис. 2 – Конфигурация оборудования представленного решения
Slika 2 – Hardverska konfiguracija predstavljenog rešenja

The main application flowchart is shown in Figure 3. The program

options are: show control command signal, set new parameters, control
commands generation, control commands generation and response data
acquisition. As it can be seen in the flowchart, except for the main
structure, there are also important subroutines (sub VI) explained in
detail in the next paragraphs.

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 Kljajić, N. et al., Open loop control of the five-axis missile and target flight motion simulator implementation, pp. 838–849
Figure 3 – Main flowchart
Рис. 3 – Диаграмма набегающего потока
Slika 3 – Dijagram toka glavnog programa

User Interface
The main task is to control the five-axis flight motion simulator,
where control data is given in a textual document, and to acquire missile
response data. The user interface is in Figure 4.
The simulator is controlled by the user through the main
application window, which means that commands are sent to analog
outputs and analog input data is acquired. The user has an option to
choose the file for signal generation (which is sent to the analog
output) and also to change general settings. As control command
signals sent to analog outputs have to be adjusted to appropriate
channel voltage levels, there are some additional settings (scale
factors) for analog outputs. Possible actions for the user are: set new
parameters, show signal waveform graphs, control commands
generation, control commands generation and response data
acquisition. The user can set and save new general parameters, or
use saved values from the last measurement. Before signal
generation and acquisition, the user is able to see signal waveform
graphs. If there is a need to generate signals without acquisition, there
is an option for this action, too, with its own interface.
By choosing the signal generation and acquisition action, the user
gets synchronized signal generation and data acquisition.
Simultaneous measurements involve different operations happening at
the same time, such as data acquisition on the input channels while
generating data on the output channels. However, these operations
are not necessarily correlated to one another. Synchronized
measurements, on the other hand, all need to start at the same time,
as well as to share a common clock for latching data among all
measurements (National Instruments, 2012).

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Figure 4 – User interface main window

Рис. 4 – Главное окно пользовательского интерфейса
Slika 4 – Glavni prozor korisničkog interfejsa

The data that the user wants to send to the simulator is in a form of
textual files containing commands and corresponding time samples. The
first step is to unpack the file and adjust the data for further processing in
LabVIEW. Since the data is raw, which means not prepared for
processing, very often it happens that time samples are not equidistant.
Therefore, there is a need for the interpolation of missing data, with a
previously chosen sample rate. Afterwards, the data is scaled, in order to
adjust to channel voltage levels defined in the device data sheet. The
processed data can now be sent to the outputs. The data acquired from
the analog inputs is also saved in a form of text files, for easier analyses
in any software package the user wants to use. The analysis can be
conducted directly, in LabVIEW software with addition of one more
subroutine for data analysis, but this request was not defined by the user.
The user requirement was to pack the acquired data in a proper form to
ensure an easy analysis in any kind of software used by engineers.

Software architecture
The main flowchart is shown in Figure 3. The used architecture is a
classic state machine. The state machine translates state transition
diagrams into a LabVIEW code that is readable, scalable and maintainable.

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This way, the virtual instrument (VI) is organized into states which are
general functions and features of application, and transitions that map out
the ways that the VI can move from one state to another (Bress, 2013).
The described application has seven states. The states are defined
based on application functional requests in a way that each state is
independent and has a different function. The basic states that every variant
of the state machine architecture must have are: initialize, wait and
shutdown. When the application is started, the first state is “initialize state”
which initializes all controls and variables. Then, the “in wait state”
application waits for the user to select an action. The “shutdown state” shuts
down the application due to error or stop the button click. The requested
software functions, as it can be seen in the flowchart in Figure 3, are control
command signal waveform graph, add new settings parameters, output
generation, output generation and input data acquisition.
The basic states have a classic architecture which is almost the
same for every state machine design, while functional application states
have complex structures with additional subroutines, which differ from
case to case. In the flowchart diagram it can be seen that, for the states
control command signal waveform graph, output generation, output
generation and input data acquisition, there is mutual action data
processing, organized in one subroutine. This subroutine consists of
unpacking textual document with desired control commands and time
samples, adjusting the data for further processing, interpolation and
scaling. The next integral part is a subroutine for settings parameter
adding and saving. The output generation is a subroutine with its own
interface. In the end, we have output generation and input data
acquisition as a subroutine with its own interface, which enables
synchronized output generation and input data acquisition. This is how
the state machine with an error cluster data flow was formed.

Conclusion
This paper presents an implementation of a modern missile
parameter testing method by using a robust software design architecture.
The main advantages of this application are: it is easy to use, hardware
support is compatible with software development environment used, so
the probability of having hardware to software communication problems
is very low and that leads to the conclusion that the testing process itself
demands less time spent testing and preparing for it. The application is
developed completely in accordance with the user requests, processes
and saves the data in a form defined by the user. This software
architecture design is readable and clear and the consequences are
fewer problems with software inheritance which is certainly an advantage

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The described solution is only the beginning of further automation,

modernization and simplification of the flight simulation process using the
five-axis flight motion simulator. The goal is to have a completely
software control of the simulator axis, to be precise, its sensors and
actuators, with additional applications for different HIL laboratory users.
The main challenge for HIL simulation applications is the synchronization
of a very large number of such I/O functions at high speeds and the rapid
conversion of signal data to and from information for inputs and outputs,
respectively. With the power and flexibility of today’s computers,
engineers and scientists are increasingly upgrading platforms for HIL
simulations, so the future solution certainly means more powerful
platform hardware configurations (National Instruments, 2008). The main
interest of the HIL laboratory, as a part of the Military Technical Institute,
for achieving this goal is cost reduction in missile systems and UAV
development, as well as decreasing development time.

References
Awad, A., Wang, H. 2014, Evaluation and Enhancing Missile performance via Real
Time Flight Simulation Model, Proceedings of the 33rd Chinese Control Conference,
Nanjing, China, July 28-30.
Acutronic. 2011. Datasheet-5-Axis-Flight-Motion-Simulator-S-450R-5.
Bress, J.T. 2013. Effective LabVIEW Programming.
Don, J.R., Bradford, H.P., David, A.R., Hollis, H.J., & Wei, C. 2001. NASA/TM-
2001-210683.
National Instruments. 2012. LabView Data Acquisition and Signal Conditioning,
Course Manual.
National Instruments. 2008. NI-Tutorial-3567, LabVIEW FPGA in Hardware-in-the-
Loop Simulation Applications.
Oberkampf, W.L., DeLand, S.M., Rutherford, B.M., Diegert, K.V., Alvin, K.F., 2001,
Error and Uncertainty in modeling and simulation, Reliability Engineering and System
Safety, 75(2002) 333-357
USA, Department of Defense. 1995. Military Handbook, Missile Flight Simulation,
Part One, Surface – To – Air Missiles. MIL-HDBK-1211(MI).

ВНЕДРЕНИЕ СИСТЕМЫ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ПЯТИОСЕВЫХ

ИМИТАТОРОВ ПОЛЕТА РАКЕТЫ И ВОЗДУШНОЙ ЦЕЛИ
В РАЗОМКНУТОМ ЦИКЛЕ

Наташа Д. Кляич, Милош И. Костич, Милош В. Павич

Министерство обороны Республики Сербия,
Военно-технический институт, г. Белград, Республика Сербия

ОБЛАСТЬ: електротехника
ВИД СТАТЬИ: профессиональная статья
ЯЗЫК СТАТЬИ: английский

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 Kljajić, N. et al., Open loop control of the five-axis missile and target flight motion simulator implementation, pp. 838–849
Резюме:
Важнейшим фактором в развитии ракетных систем явля-
ется этап моделирования и симуляции движения ракеты в соо-
тветствующих операционным параметрам условиях. Учитывая
высокую стоимость полевых испытаний подобных систем, бо-
льшие финансовые расходы и продолжительность подготови-
тельных мероприятий, симулирование в рамках программно-ап-
паратного моделирования (Hardware in the loop - HIL) является
наиболее эффективным испытательным решением.
В данной статье описан процесс внедрения системы упра-
вления, то есть, синхронизированного генерирования и актива-
ции данных пятиосевого имитатора движения ракеты и возду-
шной цели, разработанного в лаборатории программно-аппа-
ратного моделирования. Описанное в работе приложение ими-
татора обеспечивает эффективный контроль и безопасную
среду, так как используя данную систему инженер-испытатель
может сосредоточиться на функциональности устройства и
быть уверенными в реальных параметрах движения ракеты. Ре-
шение разработано на платформе LabVIEW программного ком-
плекса, с робастной архитектурой программного обеспечения,
под названием «классический конечный автомат»
Ключевые слова: испытания, моделирование, ракеты, сбор дан-
ных, генерирование сигналов, конечный автомат, синхронизиро-
ванные измерения, LabVIEW, ПАМ.

IMPLEMENTACIJA UPRAVLJANJA PETOOSNIM SIMULATOROM

LETA RAKETE I CILJA U OTVORENOJ PETLJI
Nataša D. Kljajić, Miloš I. Kostić, Miloš V. Pavić
Ministarstvo odbrane Republike Srbije, Vojnotehnički institut,
Beograd, Republika Srbija

OBLAST: elektrotehnika
VRSTA ČLANKA: stručni članak
JEZIK ČLANKA: engleski
Sažetak:
Razvoj raketnih sistema podrazumeva važne faze testiranja i si-
mulacije leta rakete u uslovima okruženja koje diktira operacija za koju
je sistem izrađen. Kako terenska ispitivanja ovako složenih sistema
zahtevaju veliki utrošak finansijskih resursa, a i mnogo vremena, simu-
lacije koje podrazumevaju hardver u petlji (Hardware in the loop – HIL)
predstavljaju vrlo efikasno rešenje za smanjenje troškova razvoja i te-
stiranja. U ovom radu predstavljena je implementacija upravljanja, od-
nosno sinhronizovanog generisanja i akvizicije podataka na petoo-
snom simulatoru leta rakete i cilja laboratorije za hardver u petlji (HIL

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laboratorije). Opisana aplikacija za simulaciju javila se kao rezultat po-

trebe inženjera razvoja raketa za jednostavnim načinom akviziranja in-
formacija o odzivu realne rakete na željena i zadata upravljanja. Reše-
nje je realizovano u LabVIEW softverskom paketu primenom robusne
arhitekture softvera, takozvane klasične mašine stanja.

Uvod
Kako su terenska ispitivanja ogroman finansijski trošak, pogotovo
prilikom razvoja raketnih sistema čije poligonsko ispitivanje znači uni-
štavanje same rakete, simulacije koje podrazumevaju hardver u petlji
(Hardware in the loop – HIL) predstavljaju vrlo efikasno rešenje za
smanjenje troškova.

HIL simulacije
Laboratorija za HIL specijalizovana je za poslove istraživanja i razvo-
ja u oblastima simulacije sistema vođenja i upravljanja realnim hardverom
i akviziciju i procesiranje realnih signala. Unutar laboratorije instaliran je
petoosni simulator leta rakete i cilja S-45OR-5 sa sistemima za merenje,
akviziciju i procesiranje signala. HIL simulacija omogućava razvoj pogod-
nih načina testiranja i evaluacije prototipova hardvera sistema vođenja i
upravljanja raketom u zatvorenoj simulacionoj petlji. Simulacija kretanja
rakete po visini, pravcu i valjanju obezbeđena je upravljanjem po tri ose.
Spoljašnje dve ose simulatora predstavljaju azimut i elevaciju simuliranog
translatornog kretanja cilja. HIL simulacija potrebna je radi određivanja
neophodnih tehničkih i operacionih parametara vođenih raketa.

Pregled postavke problema i rešenje

Ispitivanje u konkretnom slučaju predstavlja zadavanje komandi si-
mulatoru i praćenje, odnosno snimanje odziva sistema. Zadate komande
predstavljaju parametre željenog leta rakete koji se zadaju u vidu tekstu-
alnog dokumenta. Zatim se podaci obrađuju, interpoliraju oni koji nedo-
staju, odnosno izvršava se prilagođenje podataka traženim zahtevima
sistema i samog merenja. Na kraju je potrebno snimiti odziv sistema.
Neophodno je da se merenja izvršavaju u realnom vremenu, pa je zbog
toga bitno obezbediti sinhronizovano izvršavanje komandi koje se šalju
simulatoru i snimanje odziva, odnosno sinhronizovano generisanje izla-
za i akvizicija ulaza. Za realizaciju je odabrana akvizicijska kartica Natio-
nal Instruments NI USB 6259, a kao softverski paket korišćen je National
Instruments LabView v14.0. Akvizirani električni signali memorišu se i
pakuju u format koji najviše odgovara kasnijoj obradi.

Zaključak
U radu je predstavljena implementacija savremene metode testira-
nja parametara rakete korišćenjem robusne arhitekture za dizajn softve-
ra. Prednost opisane aplikacije jeste što je vrlo jednostavna za korišće-

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nje. Pored toga, hardverska podrška je kompatibilna softverskom paketu
koji se koristi, što sve dovodi do znatnog skraćenja vremena potrebnog
za pripremu i izvršenje opita. Aplikacija je prilagođena traženim zahtevi-
ma korisnika, dakle obrađuje i čuva podatke u formatu koji je sam kori-
snik odredio, a zatim i vrši obrade nad podacima po zahtevanim kriteriju-
mima. Još jedna prednost usvojenog rešenja jeste činjenica da je opisa-
na i korišćena arhitektura dizajna softvera vrlo čitljiva i jasna, tako da se
umanjuju problemi prilikom nasleđivanja softvera.
Opisano rešenje predstavlja samo početnu stavku u daljoj automa-
tizaciji, modernizaciji i olakšavanju procesa simulacije leta rakete petoo-
snim simulatorom. Cilj predstavlja kompletno softversko upravljanje osa-
ma simulatora, odnosno svim njegovim senzorima i aktuatorima, sa do-
datkom aplikacija po željama raznih korisnika ove laboratorije. Krajnji in-
teres za ostvarenje zadatog cilja ove laboratorije, kao i samog Vojnoteh-
ničkog instituta kojem ova laboratorija pripada, predstavlja umanjenje
velikih troškova razvoja, kako raketnih sistema, tako i bespilotnih letelica,
a sa druge strane i uštedu vremena potrebnog za razvoj.
Ključne reči: test, simulacije, rakete, akvizicija podataka, generisanje sig-
nala, mašina stanja, sinhronizovana merenja, LabVIEW, hardver u petlji.

Paper received on / Дата получения работы / Datum prijema članka: 12. 11. 2015.
Manuscript corrections submitted on / Дата получения исправленной версии работы /
Datum dostavljanja ispravki rukopisa: 23. 04. 2016.
Paper accepted for publishing on / Дата окончательного согласования работы / Datum
konačnog prihvatanja članka za objavljivanje: 25. 04. 2016.

© 2016 The Authors. Published by Vojnotehnički glasnik / Military Technical Courier

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© 2016 Авторы. Опубликовано в "Военно-технический вестник / Vojnotehnički glasnik / Military

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