Aerodynamic analysis of AOA sensor location design on civil aircraft

To achieve AOA (Angle of Attack) signal with high robust and high SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is the first principle of AOA sensor location design. Insensitivity of AOA correction curve with AOS (Angle of Side Slip) means high robust AOA signal. Sensitivity of AOA correction curve with AOA means high SNR AOA signal. A comprehensive CFD study is consequently carried out to investigate the local AOA dependencies on body AOA and AOS for a typical civil aircraft. A region on which local AOA is insensitivity to AOS and sensitive to AOA is discovered on the fuselage by some statistic post-processing of the CFD results. This region is then identified as a baseline for locating the AOA sensor.