Incorporating Test Data for Small UAS at the Conceptual Design Level

[摘要] Increasing demand for improved capabilities of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) has generated interest in improving the design techniques for these vehicles. sUAS have typically been designed using iterative methods with multiple prototypes, but advancements in aircraft design software will make it possible to generate conceptual designs of very small VTOL aircraft with reduced hardware prototyping. This paper describes a research effort to generate a conceptual design of an approximately 6-lb quadcopter using the NASA rotorcraft design software NDARC. Wind tunnel and hover test data are used to validate and refine the conceptual design results. The effects of parametric design variations on vehicle scale are shown. The design study described herein shows that the NDARC software, which was designed for full-scale rotorcraft, can be used to design and evaluate sUAS vehicles.

[发布日期] 2018-11-16

[学科分类] 航空航天科学

[关键词] DESIGN ANALYSIS;ELECTRIC BATTERIES;ITERATIVE SOLUTION;PERFORMANCE PREDICTION;PROTOTYPES;ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT;THRUST;UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS;WIND TUNNEL TESTS;FLUX DENSITY;HORIZONTAL FLIGHT;HOVERING;ROTORS;SCALING LAWS;VERTICAL TAKEOFF AIRCRAFT