Design concept of a high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual project of a high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. It describes a number of historical, current and prospective HALE aircraft and considers existing four serious obstacles, to overcome them can mean the successful building of HALE aircraft. Among these obstacles there are very special aerodynamic (low Reynolds numbers together with transonic speeds), very light structures usually of high aspect ratio, propulsion technology (usually propeller driven by turbocharged piston engines) and flight control system (usually combining the best features of preprogrammed and hand-flown modes). Four aerodynamic design concepts are presented and their performances are compared. Among them is a biplane, considered mainly because of its moderate wing span, which can be obtained for a relatively big wing area and a high effective wing aspect ratio, a relatively stiff wing structure, and lower induced drag being possible to be obtained at the same lift and wing area as for the equivalent monoplane. It is shown that an attentively designed biplane can be efficient aerodynamically for high altitude patrol missions having almost the same endurance, using the same fuel to reach a service ceiling and having the take-off mass (and the payload) considerably bigger than a corresponding, equivalent monoplane. The paper is completed with selected considerations about dynamic stability.