Perpustakaan Digital ITB

This research addresses the challenge of accurately estimating vertical air currents for glider pilots, a task for which traditional variometers are often inadequate due to measurement lag and inaccuracies. To overcome these limitations, a self-contained, non-invasive data acquisition instrument was designed, constructed, and flight-tested, integrating an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), GPS, and a full air data system. The collected data was processed post-flight using an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) to perform trajectory reconstruction and estimate the aircraft's full kinematic and aerodynamic state, from which the vertical wind component was derived. The results demonstrate that the EKF provides stable and accurate estimates during quasi-steady conditions like level flight, but reveals performance degradation during dynamic maneuvers. When compared to a standard barometric variometer, the EKF-based estimate showed a faster response to the entry and exit of thermals, while maintaining good agreement during sustained climb or sink readings. This study successfully validates the feasibility of a sensor fusion approach for vertical wind estimation and provides a robust framework for post-flight analysis, while also identifying key challenges for future real-time implementation.