Design Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Research Articles

Design and Trajectory Tracking Control of a New Bi-Copter UAV

A pair of vectored thrusts brings versatility and power efficiency to bi-copter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). One common difficulty confronted by state-of-the-art bi-copter UAVs is the non-minimum phase nature, which puts fundamental limitations in the system and challenges the control. This letter introduces a new minimum phase bi-copter UAV that outperforms the conventional bi-copter UAV on attitude control with faster angular response and halved settling time. The comparison is made based on the optimal performance found by a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based attitude controller on SO(3). The differential flatness property of generic bi-copter UAVs considering servo dynamics is analyzed. Flatness-based trajectory generation and tracking control of the new bi-copter UAV are described in detail together with flight experiments demonstrating the performance of the bi-copter flying through a drone race gate following a four-dimensional trajectory.

Asymmetrical Damage Aspects Based Investigations on the Disc Brake of Long-Range UAVs through Verified Computational Coupled Approaches

In recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased significantly. Asymmetrical factors, or frictional studies on the disc brake of UAVs, are one of the safety considerations taken into consideration during the design process because UAVs and their components have been built with the best safety in mind. This study focuses on choosing the optimal material for a UAV’s disc brake by using transient structural and thermal models. In order to compare the asymmetry-based frictional force produced by the two ways; the processes used in the transient simulation are validated using pin-on-disc (POD) testing. The foundation for this validation investigation is a metal matrix composite made of an aluminum alloy, and the basis tool is an ASTM G99-based computational test specimen. Steel-EN24 and carbon ceramic matrix composites testing are expanded using the same POD tests. A range of 3 percent to 8 percent error rates is found. As a result, the calculation techniques are applied to the UAV’s disc brake after they have proven to be trustworthy. This fixed-wing UAV’s extensions have a 5 kg payload capacity. The weight, avionics components, tire dimensions, and disc brake dimensions of the other UAV design parts are calculated using analytical formulas. The final designs are made using CATIA as a result. The grid convergence experiment is organized using a traditional finite element analysis tool. Finally, at its maximum rotational speed, a UAV’s disc brake is put through asymmetrical friction testing based on structural and thermal consequences. The correct materials for critical applications, such as carbon fiber-woven-wet-based reinforced polymer and Kevlar unidirectional-49-based reinforced polymer composites for changing rotating speeds, have now been made possible by fixed-wing UAVs.

Design and Implementation of UAVs for Bird’s Nest Inspection on Transmission Lines Based on Deep Learning

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have been increasingly used in power line inspections. Birds often nest on transmission line towers, which threatens safe power line operation. The existing research on bird’s nest inspection using UAVs mainly stays at the level of image postprocessing detection, which has poor real-time performance and cannot obtain timely bird’s nest detection results. Considering the above shortcomings, we designed a power inspection UAV system based on deep learning technology for autonomous flight, positioning and photography, real-time bird nest detection, and result export. In this research, 2000 bird’s nest images in the actual power inspection environment were shot and collected to create the dataset. The parameter optimization and test comparison for bird’s nest detection are based on the three target detection models of YOLOv3, YOLOv5-s, and YOLOX-s. A YOLOv5-s bird’s nest detection model optimized for bird’s nest real-time detection is proposed, and it is deployed to the onboard computer for real-time detection and verification during flight. The DJI M300 RTK UAV was used to conduct a test flight in a natural power inspection environment. The test results show that the mAP of the UAV system designed in this paper for bird’s nest detection is 92.1%, and the real-time detection frame rate is 33.9 FPS. Compared with the previous research results, this paper proposes a new practice of using drones for bird’s nest detection, dramatically improving the real-time accuracy of bird’s nest detection. The UAV system can efficiently complete the task of bird’s nest detection in the process of electric power inspection, which can significantly reduce manpower consumption in the power inspection process.

Trajectory Design for Multi-UAV-Aided Wireless Power Transfer toward Future Wireless Systems.

In this paper, we investigate an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted wireless power transfer (WPT) system, in which a set of UAV-mounted mobile energy transmitters (ETs) are dispatched to broadcast wireless energy to an energy receiver (ER) on the ground. In particular, we aim to maximize the amount of energy transferred to the ER during a finite UAV’s flight period, subject to the UAV’s maximum speed and collision avoidance constraints. First, the basic one/two-UAV scenarios are researched in detail, which show that UAVs should hover at fixed locations during the whole charging period. Specifically, the Lagrange multiplier method is employed to solve the proposed optimization problem for the case of two UAV situation. Specifically, the general conclusions based on the theoretical analysis of one/two-UAV scenarios are drawn contribute to deducing the trajectory design of UAVs when the number of UAVs increases from three to seven. The obtained trajectory solution implies that UAVs should be evenly distributed on the circumference with point (0,0,H) as the center and UAVs’ safe distance as the radius. Finally, numerical results are provided to validate the trajectory design algorithm for the multiple UAVs-enabled single-user WPT system.

Multifidelity Simulation Research on the Low Reynolds Number Effect on the Engine Performance at Different Altitudes

Abstract With the rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles, the effect of the low Reynolds number on gas turbine performance and high-altitude endurance has received extensive attention. However, the existing three-dimensional component modeling cannot meet the design requirements of the whole engine level, and the accuracy and physical principles of the existing engine empirical correction cannot be guaranteed. Through the study of a single-shaft turbojet engine, this paper adopts a versatile and accurate coupling method, which combines the volume method and the full coupling method and conducts multifidelity simulation research on the zero-dimensional engine model and the three-dimensional component model. Then, based on the high-altitude test data, under typical operating conditions, compared with the existing empirical correction method in gasturb, the accuracy of the engine inlet flow, fuel flow, thrust, and exhaust gas temperature predicted by the volume-based fully coupled method is improved by 6.2%, 7.9%, 4.7%, and 11.4%, respectively. Next, as the flight altitude rises from 0 km to 21 km, the Reynolds number reduces, the working lines approach the surge lines, and the maximum mass flow rate and the efficiency of the engine components gradually decrease. In addition, in the flow field of the components, the thickness of the boundary layer increases, the shock wave intensity decreases, and the position moves forward. The core innovation of this article is that it provides a creative multifidelity evaluation method for gas turbines to effectively solve the problems of insufficient accuracy of the existing empirical correction methods and the inability of the component design to meet the gas turbine requirements in the study of the low Reynolds number effect at different altitudes, which significantly strengthens the connection among the component internal flow field information extraction, the component characteristics analysis, and the gas turbine performance matching. Moreover, it is conducive to the scientific design of the advanced unmanned aerial vehicles' power.

Optimal and Fully Connected Deep Neural Networks Based Classification Model for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Images

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is treated as an effective technique for gathering high resolution aerial images. The UAV based aerial image collection is highly preferred due to its inexpensive and effective nature. However, automatic classification of aerial images poses a major challenging issue in the design of UAV, which could be handled by the deep learning (DL) models. This study designs a novel UAV assisted DL based image classification model (UAVDL-ICM) for Industry 4.0 environment. The proposed UAVDL-ICM technique involves an ensemble of voting based three DL models, namely Residual network (ResNet), Inception with ResNetv2, and Densely Connected Networks (DenseNet). Also, the hyperparameter tuning of these DL models takes place using a genetic programming (GP) approach. Finally, Oppositional Water Wave Optimization (OWWO) with Fully Connected Deep Neural networks (FCDNN) is employed for the classification of aerial images. A wide range of simulations takes place and the results are examined in terms of different parameters. A detailed comparative study highlighted the betterment of the UAVDL-ICM technique compared to other recent approaches.

Unmanned aerial vehicles: Applications, techniques, and challenges as aerial base stations

Next generation wireless networks are expected to be greatly supported by unmanned aerial vehicles, which can act as aerial base stations and constitute a promising solution for the exorbitant rise in user demands. This is possible because of unmanned aerial vehicle characteristics such as mobility, flexibility, increased line-of-sight probability, and their ability to access unreachable locations. Extensive research is now widely performed on the deployment, performance analysis, resource management, trajectory optimization, and channel modeling in such networks. This survey article focuses on the different applications and the related algorithms for realizing aerial base stations by thoroughly reviewing each related research area. In a nutshell, this article provides key applications, challenges, and the technology used for the design and analysis of unmanned aerial vehicles as base stations.

THE EFFICIENCY OF USING AGRAS DRONES FOR SPRAYING, THEIR DESIGN, TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL FEATURES

Agrotechnical operations on spraying crops from diseases and pests are an important part of almost any agricultural technology. They make up a significant part of the cost of all agricultural technology and, as a result, the cost of the final product. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has a huge potential in agriculture and every year the interest in their use grows primarily in the implementation of the tasks of precision farming. The object of research in this article is the process of spraying work areas with Agras unmanned aerial vehicles. The aim of the study is to study the effectiveness of DJI's Agras drones in spraying cultivated plants with pesticides, diseases, weeds and to establish their design and operating features. The objectives of the work are to establish the design and mode features of unmanned aerial vehicles Agras T16, T20 and T30; to find out their productivity on spraying of cultural sites and to substantiate possible reserves in increase of productivity of drones-sprayers. The research methodology is based on the method of cognitive activity, mathematical modeling, methods of analysis and synthesis of both information from official sources and information from the works of other researchers. The scientific work considers the excellent technical and operational features of hexacopters Agras T16, T20 and T30. The performed analysis allows us to assert the dynamics in improving the efficiency of their use. The practical aspects of their use in spraying with plant protection products, the choice of the required mode of exploitation are substantiated. It is noted that the performance of sprayers depends on the diameter of the swing of the rotors, which create a downward flow of air, the number of rotors and the height above the crop surface. Their maximum permissible speed is limited by the performance of the installed pumps, the capacity of the nozzles to ensure a given rate of discharge of the working drug, by properties of substances of the tank mixture, etc. The calculation of operational productivity Sparaying Drones Agras T16, T20 and T30 at the length of the runs of sections 750 and 1000 m is given. Productivity of Sparaying Drones Agras T16, T20 and T30 at a run length of 1000 m is obtained, respectively, 7.65; 8.29 and 10.5 ha/h. With the reduction of the run length to 750 m, the productivity of all Sparaying Drones Agras T16, T20 and T30 increases, respectively 8.40; 9.10 and 11.06 ha/h. Analyzing the balance of time of change of Agras drones in percentage it was found, that about 25 % is due to downtime of unregulated time, which is caused by technical malfunctions, organizational problems and weather conditions. The most important reserves in increasing the productivity of DJI's Agras drones for spraying cultivated plants with pesticides, diseases and weeds have been noted.

Beamforming Design and Performance Analysis for Satellite and UAV Integrated Networks in IoRT Applications

Satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) integrated networks (SUINs) are considered as a promising method to offer various Internet of Remote Things (IoRT) applications. In this article, we investigate the downlink transmission of SUINs where the satellite-to-UAV link uses the free-space optical (FSO) technology with an equal gain combining (EGC) scheme while the links from UAV to IoRT devices exploit radio frequency (RF) with the space-division multiple access (SDMA) technique. Specifically, considering that only statistical channel state information (CSI) is available, we first formulate an optimization problem to maximize the ergodic sum rate (ESR) of the system, which is constrained by the total transmit power budget and IoRT devices’ rate requirements. Then, a beamforming (BF) scheme based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is proposed to solve the nonconvex problem. Furthermore, a zero-forcing (ZF)-based suboptimal approach is also presented to reduce the implementation complexity. Finally, by assuming that the FSO link and RF links are subject to Gamma–Gamma fading and Nakagami- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> fading, respectively, we derive closed-form ESR expressions for the considered network with the proposed BF schemes. Simulation results are provided to confirm the accuracy of the theoretical analysis. Moreover, it is revealed that our proposed EGC scheme for FSO communication and BF schemes for RF transmission can both achieve better performance than the existing works.

Small-Scale Rotor Aeroacoustics for Drone Propulsion: A Review of Noise Sources and Control Strategies

In the last decade, the drone market has grown rapidly for both civil and military purposes. Due to their versatility, the demand for drones is constantly increasing, with several industrial players joining the venture to transfer urban mobility to the air. This has exacerbated the problem of noise pollution, mainly due to the relatively lower altitude of these vehicles and the proximity of their routes to extremely densely populated areas. In particular, both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic optimization of the propulsive system and of its interaction with the airframe are key aspects of unmanned aerial vehicle design that can signify the success or the failure of their mission. The industrial challenge involves finding the best performance in terms of loading, efficiency and weight, and, at the same time, the most silent configuration. For these reasons, research has focused on an initial localization of the noise sources and, on further analysis, of the noise generation mechanism, focusing particularly on directivity and scattering. The aim of the present study is to review the noise source mechanisms and the state-of-the-art control strategies, available in the literature, for its suppression, focusing especially on the fluid-dynamic aspects of low Reynolds numbers of the propulsive system and on the interaction of the propulsive system flow with the airframe.

Motor noise reduction of unmanned aerial vehicles

The noise of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) mainly comes from high-speed rotating propellers and brushless direct current motors. With extensive research on the generation mechanism and suppression methods of propeller noise, fruitful results have been achieved on the noise reduction of propellers. Therefore, the noise radiated by UAV motors has received more attention in recent years. In this paper, the noise of the motor of a small quadrotor UAV is reduced by a composite sound-absorbing structure that couples a cylindrical micro-perforated panel absorber (MPPA) with a carbon fiber porous material. The cylindrical MPPA adopts an open design to balance its noise reduction performance and heat dissipation performance. To more realistically reproduce the actual working state of the motor, different shapes of motor loads were designed and manufactured to simulate the propeller. The noise reduction experiment of the UAV motor is carried out in a semi-anechoic chamber. The experimental results show that the composite sound-absorbing structure designed in this paper can effectively reduce the noise of UAV motors and has a good heat dissipation effect. In addition, a custom-made composite sound-absorbing structure was installed on a quad-rotor UAV, and field experiments were carried out. The results of field experiments show that the composite sound-absorbing structure designed in this paper has good practicability to absorb the noise of UAV motors, and this work can provide a reference for the design of silent UAVs in the future.

A graphics-based digital twin framework for computer vision-based post-earthquake structural inspection and evaluation using unmanned aerial vehicles

Rapid structural inspections and evaluations are critical after earthquakes. Computer vision-based methods have attracted the interest of researchers for their potential to be rapid, safe, and objective. To provide an end-to-end solution for computer vision-based post-earthquake inspection and evaluation of a specific as-built structure, the concepts of physics-based graphics model (PBGM) and digital twin (DT) are combined to develop a graphics-based digital twin (GBDT) framework. The GBDT framework comprises a finite element (FE) model and a computer graphics (CG) model whose state is informed by the FE analysis, representing the state of the structure before and after an earthquake. The CG model is first created making use of the FE model and the photographic survey of the structure, yielding the virtual counterpart of the as-built structure quickly and accurately. Then damage modelling approaches are proposed to predict the location and extent of structural and nonstructural damage under seismic loading, from which photographic representation of the predicted damage is realized in the CG model. The effectiveness of the GBDT framework is demonstrated using a five-story reinforced concrete benchmark building through the design and assessment of various UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) inspection trajectories for post-earthquake scenarios. The results demonstrate that the proposed GBDT framework has significant potential to enable rapid structural inspection and evaluation, ultimately leading to more efficient allocation of scarce resources in a post-earthquake setting.

ПІДБІР МАТЕРІАЛУ ДЛЯ ВИГОТОВЛЕННЯ ЕЛЕМЕНТІВ БЕЗПІЛОТНИХ ЛІТАЛЬНИХ АПАРАТІВ ЗА АДИТИВНИМИ ТЕХНОЛОГІЯМИ

Additive technologies have made it possible to form a fundamentally new direction in the technology of unmanned aerial vehicles production, with the help of which it is possible to manufacture single and unique samples of products due to the layer-by-layer build-up of material by the method of layer-by-layer synthesis with the simultaneous obtaining of the given shape and dimensions of the next product based on a digital prototype. Modern capabilities of equipment and materials are rapidly evolving towards larger product sizes, higher accuracy and quality, high product printing speeds and low costs. When using traditional methods of production, the cost and complexity of unmanned aerial vehicles is quite high. The use of additive technologies allows you to significantly reduce the weight of the UAV body due to the reduction of material consumption. The article investigates the properties of various polymers used in additive manufacturing, determines their impact on the quality of unmanned aerial vehicles elements, and also develops a methodology for selecting materials for the manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles elements. The conducted research revealed a whole layer of issues and problems related to the need to improve the 3D printing process, organization and management of the printing of complex elements of the air defense system, which would allow effective use of the latest additive 3D printing technologies in modern production in combat conditions. According to the results of the research, the properties of the main materials for 3D printing, which are used in the FDM technology of obtaining the product, have been established. It has been established that the use of additive technologies will entail the adjustment of unmanned aerial vehicles design principles, the development of printing technologies, the use of new construction strategies, and the emergence of new technologies related to 3D printing. The analysis of quality control mechanisms for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles elements shows that the technological scheme for the selection of composite material is an important element in the 3D printing of modern unmanned aerial vehicles and their components. It was determined that with the improvement of technological equipment and the development of methods of material selection for the manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles elements, the direction of creating new unmanned aerial vehicles with the help of additive technologies will steadily expand. Keywords: additive technologies; unmanned aerial vehicles; 3D printing; polymer; structure.

Minimizing Mission Completion Time of UAVs by Jointly Optimizing the Flight and Data Collection Trajectory in UAV-Enabled WSNs

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely used to collect data from ground nodes (GNs) in various applications because of their flexibility and mobility. Some emergency situations pose strict requirements for UAV’s mission completion time. The current research focuses on the design and optimization of UAV’s flight trajectory to shorten the mission completion time. But the data collection process also greatly affects the mission completion time, especially when the uplink throughput is large. This article emphasizes the data collection process and proposes a V-shaped collection trajectory for the first time to shorten UAV’s collection time and then jointly optimizes the flight and collection trajectory to minimize the mission completion time. We formulate the mission completion time under energy constraints to an optimization problem and decompose it into three subproblems: 1) mission allocation of UAVs; 2) collection time minimization; and 3) joint optimization of collection and flight trajectory. 1) We establish the mission allocation model by setting the scaling factors for the flight and collection mission, and then solve it by utilizing the min–max multiple traveling salesman problem (MTSP) algorithm; 2) for the data collection process, we propose a V-shaped trajectory to minimize the data collection time and prove its validity; and 3) since the flight and collection trajectory of the adjacent GNs are deeply coupled, we model the joint optimization of the flight and the collection time as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem, and solve it by the joint optimization algorithm for flight trajectory and collection trajectory (JOFC). The simulation results show that our proposal outperforms the compared schemes.

Image processing methods decision mechanism for surveillance applications with UAVs

PurposeThe use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has significantly increased in the past decade and nowadays is being used for various purposes such as image processing, cargo transport, archaeology, agriculture, manufacturing, health care, surveillance and inspections. For this reason, using the appropriate image processing method for the intended use of UAVs increases the study’s success. This study aims to determine the most suitable one among the innovative methods that constitute the image processing system for a UAV to be used for surveillance purposes.Design/methodology/approachAnalytical hierarchy process has been used in the solution of the decision problem to be handled in three stages, namely, platform, architecture and method. The most suitable alternative and the effect weights of these criteria results were determined at each stage.FindingsAs a result of this study, Jetson TX2 was determined as the most suitable embedded platform, ResNet is the optimum architecture and Faster R-convolutional neural networks was the best method in the image processing layer for a system that will provide surveillance with image processing method using UAV.Practical implicationsIn UAV designs, where multiple hardware and software choices and system combinations exist, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches can be used as a system decision mechanism.Originality/valueThe novelty of this work comes from the application of MCDM methods that are used as a multi-layered decision mechanism in UAV design.

Quality-of-Service-Centric Design and Analysis of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Recent years have witnessed rapid development and great indignation burgeoning in the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) field. This growth of UAV-related research contributes to several challenges, including inter-communication from vehicle to vehicle, transportation coverage, network information gathering, network interworking effectiveness, etc. Due to ease of usage, UAVs have found novel applications in various areas such as agriculture, defence, security, medicine, and observation for traffic-monitoring applications. This paper presents an innovative drone system by designing and developing a blended-wing-body (BWB)-based configuration for next-generation drone use cases. The proposed method has several benefits, including a very low interference drag, evenly distributed load inside the body, and less radar signature compared to the state-of-the-art configurations. During the entire procedure, a standard design approach was followed to optimise the BWB framework for next-generation use cases by considering the typically associated parameters such as vertical take-off and landing and drag and stability of the BWB. Extensive simulation experiments were performed to carry out a performance analysis of the proposed model in a software-based environment. To further confirm that the model design of the BWB-UAV is fit to execute the targeted missions, the real-time working environments were tested through advanced numerical simulation and focused on avoiding cost and unwanted wastages. To enhance the trustworthiness of this said computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, grid convergence test-based validation was also conducted. Two different grid convergence tests were conducted on the induced velocity of the Version I UAV and equivalent stress of the Version II UAV. Finite element analysis-based computations were involved in estimating structural outcomes. Finally, the mesh quality was obtained as 0.984 out of 1. The proposed model is very cost-effective for performing a different kind of manoeuvring activities with the help of its unique design at reasonable mobility speed and hence can be modelled for high-speed-based complex next-generation use cases.

About revising the computational dynamic scheme of an unmanned aerial vehicle based on the results of ground-based modal test operations in the aeroelasticity problems

The problem of revising the computational dynamic scheme of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), based on the results of ground-based modal test operations, in order to study the UAV flutter and to assess the aeroelastic stability of an UAV with an automatic control system (ACS), is considered. It is noted that at the design stage, when there is no UAV prototype or its units yet, the determination of modal characteristics, specifically natural frequencies, modes and generalized masses, is carried out using the computational dynamic scheme developed according to the design documentation. However, the similar computations, performed even with the use of modern finite-element software systems, do not give sufficiently precise values of the parameters of the UAV design elastic-mass schematization. In this regard, it is relevant and important to specify the parameters of the design schematization in conformity with data of ground test operations for UAV prototypes. The provisions, allowing us to achieve satisfactory results when revising the UAV computational dynamic scheme, are made. The criteria of revising are considered. The features of revising the computational dynamic scheme, while studying the flutter and aeroelastic stability of the ACS-fitted UAV, are presented. It is noted that along with the provisions that are universal for dynamic aeroelasticity problems, specifically for flutter, and related to compensating of natural frequencies, modes and coefficients of structural damping for the UAV model according to the results of ground modal tests. In the problems of aeroelastic stability study of the UAV equipped with the ACS, it is also crucial to correct the UAV body transfer function from the section, corresponding to the axis of controls rotation, to the section where ACS sensors are installed. This is because the UAV hull is an integral part of the UAV stabilization loop and significantly affects its stability margin. The example of revising the computational dynamic scheme of a maneuverable cruciform UAV is given.

Aerodynamic analysis of a logistics UAV wing with compound ducted rotor

PurposeTo solve the problems of short battery life and low transportation safety of logistics drones, this paper aims to propose a design of logistics unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) wing with a composite ducted rotor, which combines fixed wing and rotary-wing.Design/methodology/approachThis UAV adopts tiltable ducted rotor combined with fixed wing, which has the characteristics of fast flight speed, large carrying capacity and long endurance. At the same time, it has the hovering and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of the rotary-wing UAV. In addition, aerodynamic simulation analysis of the composite model with a fixed wing and a ducted rotor was carried out, and the aerodynamic influence of the composite model on the UAV was analyzed under different speeds, fixed wing angles of attack and ducted rotor speeds.FindingsThe results were as follows: when the speed of the ducted rotor is 2,500 rpm, CL and K both reach maximum values. But when the speed exceeds 3,000 rpm, the lift will decrease; when the angle of attack of the fixed wing is 10° and the rotational speed of the ducted rotor is about 3,000 rpm, the aerodynamic characteristics of the wing are better.Originality/valueThe novelty of this work comes from a composite wing design of a fixed wing combined with a tiltable ducted rotor applied to the logistics UAVs, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the design wing are analyzed.

Design and Development of Aluminum Frame Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Hexacopter Configuration to Support Heavy Payload

Previous research has proven that the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can increase the efficiency of human work. However, the design of the usefulness of UAV is considered to be limited. This limitation, for example, is that the UAV's lifting capacity is only capable of lifting 3-5 kilograms of load on average. In addition, the main material of the UAV frame also uses carbon fiber produced by build-up factories abroad, this makes the UAV design less economical. Furthermore, this study discusses the development of the UAV's lifting capacity of 25 kilograms to be able to lift the pesticide liquid load and considers the economic value. The hexacopter type multicopter UAV design was chosen in this study, equipped with 6 main propulsion rotors capable of carrying out its main task of lifting heavy loads, compared to the multicopter type of fewer than 6 rotors. The design is carried out by calculating the lifting force and analyzing the strength structure of the frame material with the help of AutoDesk Inventor software. The final result of the study was that the aluminum-based heavy-lift hexacopter drone was able to support heavy loads, as evidenced by structural analysis simulations resulting in a safety factor value of 1.67 ul, equipped with a 120KV rotor, 23x88 inch propeller, and 6S lipo battery 16,000 mAh, with a total weight of the frame 15kg drone flying for 19 minutes, with an additional 10kg of load the drone can fly for 6 minutes. This research can be developed by adding a nozzle or griper so that it can lift the pesticide spraying tank on a large enough agricultural land.

A methodology to integrate reliability into the conceptual design of safety-critical multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles

This article introduces a new conceptual design methodology to evaluate and explore underactuated electric multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designs for safety-critical applications. A case study focusing on medical transport in an urban environment demonstrates the methodology's effectiveness. The current state of the art does not provide conceptual design methodologies that integrate reliability considerations for multirotor UAVs. The proposed methodology addresses this gap by developing systematic reliability calculation and introducing sizing based on failure cases. For this purpose, controllability and reliability analysis methods are developed and linked to an analytical sizing methodology. The controllability analysis is based on the available control authority index adapted for failure case assessment and reliability analysis. The link between the controllability analysis and the sizing methodology is achieved by introducing failure case sizing factors. The sizing relies on a modern analytical database-free methodology with multidisciplinary design optimization for design customization and computational efficiency. This methodology is developed with new design models to cover failure cases in forward flights. When applied to the case study, the methodology efficiently evaluates and compares five concepts and indicates that only two comply with both the safety and reliability requirements and mission specifications (payload and range). More specifically, the methodology shows the major impact of reliability considerations on the case study with sizing factors that almost double or triple the required rotor thrusts depending on the design. This methodology is applicable to challenging future multirotor UAV applications that require to demonstrate high safety levels and redundancies, such as urban air taxis, flying ambulances, and search and rescue and medical equipment transport.