Calibration of a Five-Hole Multi-Function Probe for Helicopter Air Data Sensors

In the flight of air vehicles, accurate air data information is required to control them effectively. Especially, helicopters are often put in drastic motion involved with high angle of attacks in order to perform difficult missions. Among various sensors, the multi function probe (MFP) has been used in the present study mainly owing to its advantages in structural simplicity and capability of providing various information such as static and total pressure, speed, and pitch and yaw angles. In this study, a five-hole multi-function probe (FHMFP) is developed and its calibration is conducted using multiple regressions. In this work a calibration study on the FHMFP, an air data sensor for helicopters, is reported. It is shown that the pitch and yaw angles' accuracy of calibration is ${\pm}0.91^{\circ}$ at a cone angle of $0^{\circ}{\sim}30^{\circ}$ and ${\pm}2.0^{\circ}$ at $30^{\circ}{\sim}43^{\circ}$, respectively, which is summarized in table 3.