Hand lauched UAV

Abstract

UAV has largely been used both for military and commercial purposes. With better, more accessible flight controllers and fabrication method such as additive manufacturing (AM), it is now possible to create a conceptual drone that could possibly be adopted for future professional tasks. In this project, the main objective is to improve and design a new quick-deployable UAV design that could possibly surpass the current operational scout drone for reconnaissance purposes. As with any other technological advancements, there are always limitation. In the category of scout UAV, quick deployment and launching clearance is still a great limitation. Moreover, amongst other platforms such as hybrids, multi or single rotors, fix wing is still much preferred as it is a stable platform with a long-proven endurance due to its efficiency in straight level flight. Therefore, in this project the design development will encompass foldable fix wing UAV platform and ground-based propulsion. The ground-based propulsion will be used to quickly gain the momentum to an operational altitude quickly, which overcome the launching limitations in the current operational scout UAV. The areas that will be covered including basic sizing, configuration, aerodynamics, propulsion, structure and electronics. Multiple prototypes may be required in the process to get the final design desired. The process will include additive manufacturing (AM) which will be used to build complicated structures during the rapid prototyping stages. This is necessary in order to obtain adequate strength, without inducing additional weight penalties.