Abstract

Spatially separated accelerometers and measured rotational motion can enable estimation of an aircraftโ€™s longitudinal center-of-gravity (CG) location. Because the unrestricted rigid-body governing equations form an underdetermined system, the problem is reduced by assuming known lateral and vertical CG coordinates. The resulting estimator uses the lateral acceleration equation, where sensitivity to longitudinal CG is governed by the rotational excitation term ๐‘€_21 = ๐‘๐‘ž + ๐‘Ÿฬ‡. Three representations of lateral acceleration at the CG are evaluated: a zero- acceleration assumption, a linear sideslip angle model, and a model based on sideslip angle and true airspeed squared. Each model is calibrated using known CG data and tested on independent simulation and experimental flight maneuvers using pointwise, fixed-window, and sliding- window estimation. Results show that adequate rotational excitation and accurate lateral acceleration modeling are both necessary for reliable estimation. Adding sideslip information consistently improves performance over the zero-acceleration assumption, while airspeed scaling provides additional but condition-dependent benefits. For the evaluated experimental maneuver, the beta-and-airspeed model produced a full-window CG estimate within 0.0283 m of the known location, although pointwise and sliding-window errors remained substantially larger. Overall, the results demonstrate the feasibility of a maneuver-based, windowed longitudinal CG estimator while highlighting its sensitivity to measurement quality, maneuver design, and lateral acceleration model error.

Publication Date

8-5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Mechanical Engineering

College

Kate Gleason College of Engineering

Advisor

Agamemnon Crassidis

Advisor/Committee Member

Byron Erath

Advisor/Committee Member

Jason Kolodziej

Campus

RIT โ€“ Main Campus

Download

Share

COinS