Preliminary design and cost analysis of a family of unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

ABSTRQCT This paper summarizes the results of a study on the design of high altitude long endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A review of previous designs revealed that most were pointdesigns rather than general purpose vehicles, leading to cost inefficiencies It was therefore determined that efforts should be made to design HALE UAVs that are capable of performing a wide variety of missions Additionally, it is desirable for these vehicles to be as inexpensive as possible, in order to allow their use by a wider base of customers. In the present study, a family of three mission-configurable HALE vehicles has been designed. Between them, these vehicles span the majority of the pa~loadlendurance requirements of previous designs In addition, through the use of common parts and subassemblies among the three craft, it is shown that vehicle unit cost can be reduced substantially; perhaps by as much as 25%.