Determining aerodynamic characteristics of small unmanned aerial vehicles involving flight experiment

Abstract

The methodology, software and hardware and the results of determining the aerodynamic characteristics of a small-sized UAV on the basis of a flight experiment are considered in the article. The peculiarity of the proposed technique is the use of small-sized UAVs to study the aerodynamic characteristics of various aerodynamic configurations and new engineering solutions. The main feature of the software and hardware implementation of the methodology consists in the use of small-sized electronic elements and electromechanical components available on the market in order to develop a sufficiently universal system of airborne measurements. The description and technical characteristics of the developed system are given. The system was tested on a specially designed and manufactured UAV with a traditional aerodynamic configuration that was designed using well-known and sufficiently reliable aerodynamic characteristics for such aircraft. The results of processing the data of the flight experiment and the aerodynamic characteristics calculated on its basis are presented. They show fairly good agreement with the parameters laid down in the design of the experimental UAV.