Design and Development of Loitering Munition UAV

Abstract

The last few decades has seen an unprecedented rise in global usage and deployment of autonomous aerial systems. Due to their affordability for common and versatile applications, ranging from aerial photography to highly sophisticated applications like surveillance and security, their popularity is growing exponentially. To increase efficiency and reduce exposure to hazardous scenarios, defense corporations worldwide are now focusing their development efforts on autonomous loitering munitions, which can be deployed at a tactical level and operated by an individual or a small crew. Armed Unmanned Aerial Systems have received more attention in recent years due to several advantages over manned aircraft such as long endurance and higher payload carrying capacity.

This thesis focuses on designing and developing loitering munition in the tactical / small UAS domain. The scope of work aims to conceive and create a proof of concept loitering munition, including the aerodynamic design cycle, selection and analysis of airfoil, wing sizing, drag polar analysis and mass budgeting. Performance Analysis pertaining to power-plant selection, propeller sizing, avionics selection, and appropriate battery selection is also conducted. The Prototype UAV has a tandem wing configuration with a frontal wingspan of 0.6 m and a rear

wingspan of 0.45 m. The aircraft weighs 2.6 kg and has an L/D ratio of 15.7 owing to the high- lift requirements.

This research also encompasses the key aspect of prototyping and manufacturing. Using novel 3- d printing techniques, a prototype UAV is developed that establishes and validates key performance parameters, including mass budgeting, C.G. measurements, and aerodynamic performance. Various tests and activities are performed on the airframe, including mounting and integrating the complete avionics suite. Unpowered glide testing of UAV is performed using a UAV arresting Net. The prototype is equipped with IMU and Data Logging equipment to record various aerodynamic parameters during testing. Analysis of glide-test results indicates satisfactory lift performance as pitching angle of 150 was achieved during the glide testing. The high-lift performance leads to improved payload carrying capacity and increased flight time in comparison with contemporary systems.