Preliminary design of a BWB UAV for highway traffic monitoring

Abstract

The current work presents the preliminary design procedure of a small-scale, fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), incorporating the novel Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) layout configuration. The UAV is designed to support a Cooperative-Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS), for monitoring traffic conditions at large national highways. The presented UAV design procedure emphasizes on both aerodynamic and stability behavior, aiming to a high aerodynamic efficiency and the satisfaction of the mission requirements. The design is supported by CFD analyses, to determine the aerodynamic and stability coefficients. Following the CFD modeling, the performance parameters of the platform are calculated. Furthermore, an internal layout study is conducted to integrate all the necessary internal components, determining the center of gravity. Finally, the overall UAV design concludes to an optimum configuration of the UAV-ITS, satisfying all the aerodynamic, stability and mission requirements.