Flight identification simulation of performance RX-450

The performance of rocket flight can be evaluated from flight test data. The difference between flight prediction simulation and flight test data will indicate the accuracy of the rocket identification model. Several factors cause rocket flight tests to deviate from flight prediction. Atmospheric disturbances and thrust scale are major factors causing the inaccuracy of the rocket model. Another obstacle encountered is the lack of flight data measured from flight tests although there are still several data obtained from an accelerometer, altitude sensors, and GPS. Rocket performance identification can be obtained by conducting a simulation of flight test data. This paper addresses the identification of RX-450 in terms of flight performance. The thrust profile is generated from the accelerometer recording data, and this parameter becomes an input for rocket simulation. The wind data is treated as an atmospheric disturbance. The wind data is augmented by GPS on the air balloon, and further processed become wind speed and wind direction. Comparison of both data can be explained as follow: During the boost phase, flight test data of the rocket shows a maximum acceleration of 14.5g, on the other hand, flight identification simulation gives 13.4g. Rocket flies for 157.36 s in the flight test whereas the result of the fight identification simulation indicates the max flight time is 162.8 s. The rocket has a max range of 86.06 km measured by GPS data whereas flight identification simulation estimates the max range is 82.78 km. The flight identification simulation indicates that the rocket deviated 6.25° from the initial azimuth of the launcher direction. This 6.25° of deviation leads the rocket to fly in Y-direction with a distance of 9.02 km. Flight test data shows that the rocket slides its direction 6° to the right of the initial launch azimuth.