Preliminary design study for a future unmanned cargo aircraft configuration

Abstract

This paper investigates the suitability of different aircraft configurations for use as an automated air transportation system. The underlying unmanned cargo aircraft, carrying a payload of about 1 ton and operating in the lower air space, is furthermore supposed to have low take-off and landing distances. This work comprises two separate analyses. The first study deals with a group of five different fixed-wing aircraft, containing a conventional configuration, a twin-boom aircraft, a canard configuration, a biplane aircraft, and a box wing configuration. The aircraft are designed for different wing spans and compared with each other in terms of flight performances. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the integration of small electrically driven propellers are investigated. The second study assesses the qualification of a helicopter and a gyrocopter for the transportation task. The gyrocopter is included in these investigations particularly, since its simplicity and its autorotation capabilities bring benefits in terms of maintenance and safety management. This second part investigates flight performance of the rotorcraft, presents their key parameters, and discusses their respective advantages for use as an automated air transportation system. In addition to flight performance evaluations, further design aspects, improving and facilitating the operation of the unmanned cargo aircraft, are taken into account. Finally, a twin-boom aircraft configuration with a wing span of 16 m, a box wing configuration with a wing span of 12 m, and a gyrocopter with small supplementary wings are proposed for the transportation task.