Development of Autonomous VTOL UAV for Wide Area Surveillance

Abstract

The drone was developed with the use of unmanned aircraft systems in the initial military sector based on the combination of aerospace technology and information and communication technologies in a variety of usability, including the civilian sectors. Developed for the field of reconnaissance, it is used in both civilian and police sectors as traffic monitoring and high altitude reconnaissance missions. It is used in broadcasting and surveillance, while continuously expanding into the areas of courier delivery and rescue missions. Based on the convergence of aviation technology such as various SW, sensor and flight control to utilize unmanned system and information communication technology, commercialization of related technology is being developed as a very diverse route. In this paper, we propose and manufacture of a VTOL UAV. Design process referred to the VTOL development process that has been devised by us, and actual building of a UAV also applied the same VTOL development concept. In order to understand the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft, we have applied the aerodynamic design theory and used the CAE method that can replace the actual wind tunnel test. We tested the selection method and criteria for the internal modules that make up the UAV, and we were able to assemble the product. FW coding of flight control computer was conducted for VTOL control. In addition, we developed a LTE communication module for the long distance flight, and carried out flight experiments with GCS to observe and respond to the flight situation from the ground. Flight test results showed that stable transition flight was possible with broadband. We could see that the actual performance results were met, compared to our development target values.