Military UAV Research Articles

Comparison of 3D Versus 4D Path Planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

<p>This research compares 3D versus 4D (three spatial dimensions and the time dimension) multi-objective and multi-criteria path-planning for unmanned aerial vehicles in complex dynamic environments. In this study, we empirically analyse the performances of 3D and 4D path planning approaches. Using the empirical data, we show that the 4D approach is superior over the 3D approach especially in complex dynamic environments. The research model consisting of flight objectives and criteria is developed based on interviews with an experienced military UAV pilot and mission planner to establish realism and relevancy in unmanned aerial vehicle flight planning. Furthermore, this study incorporates one of the most comprehensive set of criteria identified during our literature search. The simulation results clearly show that the 4D path planning approach is able to provide solutions in complex dynamic environments in which the 3D approach could not find a solution.</p>

Self-Organization as a Supporting Paradigm for Military UAV Relay Networks

The modern battlefield scenario presents a number of challenges that highlights the importance of data gathering and information flow as crucial to the success of a military operation. In this context, network-centric warfare systems play an important role to bridge the gap between data and information sources and consumers. These systems are generally composed of different types of networks both deployed on the field and on back-end facilities. A paramount problem faced when conceiving the interconnection between the networked devices is how to provide robust and dependable connections to the devices on the field. This work tackles this issue proposing the use of the self-organizing paradigm to design efficient UAV relay networks to support military operations. As a proof of concept, realistic simulation experiments are performed providing clear indications of the claimed benefits of the self-organizing paradigm applied to these military systems.

A Study on the Historical Development of Military UAVs and Their Strategic Implications

A Study on the Historical Development of Military UAVs and Their Strategic Implications

시스템 구성품의 위험 심각도를 반영한 안전중시 시스템의 설계 모듈화에 관한 연구

Abstract Modern systems development becomes more and more complicated due to the need on the ever-increasing capability of the systems. In addition to the c omplexity issue, safety concern is also increasing since the malfunctions of the systems under development may result in the accidents in both the test and evaluation phase and the operation phase. Those accidents can cause disastrous damages if explosiveness gets involved therein such as in weapon systems development. The subject of this paper is on how to incorporate safety requirements in the design of safety-critical systems. As an approach, a useful system structure using the method of design structure matrix (DSM) is studied while reflecting the need on systems safety. Specifically, the effects of system components failure are analyzed and numerically modeled first. Also, the system components are identified and their interfaces are represented using a component DSM. Combining the results of the failure analysis and the component DSM leads to a modified DSM. By rearranging the resultant DSM, a modular structure is derived with safety requirements incorporated. As a case study, application of the approach is also discussed in the development of a military UAV plane.Keywords : Design Structure Matrix, Failure Modes, Failure Crit icality, Unmaned Aerial Vehicle, Safety, Conceptual Design

DEVELOPMENT OF ISR FOR QUADCOPTER

Research organizations all over the world are finding and developing more and more application areas for UAV’s. The prominent areas where UAV’s have marked their presence include largely military, air force and upper atmosphere exploration [1] . Presently the technology involved in military application Quadcopter is inaccessible and secret, thus in this paper attempt has been made to develop such a UAV that has most of the functionality of a military grade UAV but can be constructed using off the shelf components. The emphasis is on development of low cost, reliable, accurate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology (ISR) [2] . The use of a specialized technology for control transmission will make it fail proof and snoop safe. The epilogue for the paper is a complete comparison of a low level and high level off shelf technology and the concerned development platform.

Unmanning the Police Manhunt: Vertical Security as Pacification

This article provides a critique of military aerial drones being “repurposed” as domestic security technologies. Mapping this process in regards to domestic policing agencies in the United States, the case of police drones speaks directly to the importation of actual military and colonial architectures into the routine spaces of the “homeland”, disclosing insidious entwinements of war and police, metropole and colony, accumulation and securitization. The “boomeranging” of military UAVs is but one contemporary example how war power and police power have long been allied and it is the logic of security and the practice of pacification that animates both. The police drone is but one of the most nascent technologies that extends or reproduces the police’s own design on the pacification of territory. Therefore, we must be careful not to fetishize the domestic police drone by framing this development as emblematic of a radical break from traditional policing mandates – the case of police drones is interesting less because it speaks about the militarization of the police, which it certainly does, but more about the ways in which it accentuates the mutual mandates and joint rationalities of war abroad and policing at home. Finally, the paper considers how the animus of police drones is productive of a particular form of organized suspicion, namely, the manhunt. Here, the “unmanning” of police power extends the police capability to not only see or know its dominion, but to quite literally track, pursue, and ultimately capture human prey.

군용무인기의 감항인증 목표안전수준 분석

군용항공기 감항인증은 감항성을 가지고 요구된 성능과 기능을 발휘할 수 있음에 대한 정부의 인증이다. 북대서양조약기구(NATO)는 최대이륙중량 150㎏ 이상의 군용무인기에 대한 감항인증 요구도인 STANAG-4671을 2009년에 배포하였다. 최근 150㎏ 미만의 소형 무인기에 대한 감항인증 요구도인 STANAG-4703을 내부적으로 배포하여 검토 중에 있다. 우리나라는 국제적으로 통용되는 감항인증 기준인 STANAG-4671을 기타감항인증 기준으로 준용하여 군용무인기에 적용하고 있다. 하지만 STANAG-4671은 중량에 관계없이 동일한 목표안전수준을 요구하여 낮은 중량의 중·소형무인기에 대해서는 목표안전수준이나 설계 요구도가 과도하게 적용될 수 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 군용무인기 분류와 감항인증 기준을 분석하고, 지상피해 평가기법을 적용하여 최대이륙중량별 목표안전수준을 제시하였다.

The Jinn Military Unmanned Helicopter Program: Rotor Blade Tip Aerodynamics of the Advanced Technology Demonstrator

Marques P, Maligno A, Dierks S, Penev V and Bachouche A. (2013). The Jinn military unmanned helicopter program: Rotor blade tip aerodynamics of the advanced technology demonstrator. International Journal of Unmanned Systems Engineering. 1(3): 6-15. This study evaluates different concepts in helicopter rotor blade tip design with the goal to optimise the aerodynamic performance of the Jinn military UAV by Tunisia Aero Technologies Industries S.A. The Jinn helicopter advanced technology demonstrator uses a state-of-theart 5-blade bearingless single-rotor system for superior manoeuvrability under conditions of high rotor loading. The underlying philosophy of the Jinn programme is a quest for superior rotor aerodynamic performance, low noise signature and vibration, low life-cycle costs, and a high level of reliability and safety. Blade tip backsweep helps suppress the transonic shock on the advancing blade, but may cause unbalanced aeroelastic loads due to the rearward displacement of the aerodynamic centre. Aeroelastic deflections can be prevented using a swept-tapered tip, however such tip geometry incurs a loss in aerodynamic efficiency. Anhedral in advanced blade tips generates a variation in pitching moment that helps reduce control loads. A leading edge ‘notch’ offset in the blade tip region aligns the tip aerodynamic centre on the quarter-chord feathering axis of the blade. The notch offset configuration effectively suppresses shock development on the advancing blade and allows the retreating blade to operate at high angles of attack without stalling. The literature suggest that the geometry of the blade tip for the Jinn helicopter should integrate elements of parabolic sweepback, taper, forward notch area, and anhedral, based on the British Experimental Rotor Programme (BERP), Advanced Geometry Blade, Advanced Technology Rotor, and Eurocopter Blue-Edge blade tip concepts. © Marques Aviation Ltd – Press.