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Gokhan Inalhan
Istanbul Technical University
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Received: 8 May 2012 / Accepted: 9 July 2012 / Published online: 28 July 2012
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract Nowadays, mini Unmanned Aerial Ve- Keywords Unmanned aerial vehicles ·
hicles (UAVs) are utilized in a wide range of UAV design and development · Tailless aircraft ·
reconnaissance and surveillance missions with an Flying wing aircraft
ever increasing need for endurance and range.
Thus, a slight improvement on these two pri-
mary performance parameters is considered as
a competitive advantage. In this work, a multi- 1 Introduction
functional tailless UAV concept and its design
process is presented. In comparison to existing This paper focuses on the conceptual design and
conventional UAV designs, the concept is shown analysis of a dual control (RC/autonomous mode)
to have superior aerodynamic and flight perfor- mini UAV tailored for reconnaissance and sur-
mance characteristics. In addition the detachable veillance missions. ITU Tailless UAV concept is
wing and body concept provides the much needed inspired by the cost effective role of mini UAVs
flexibility and multi-functionality for using the on civilian and military applications. Given the
UAV for a range of operation concepts, in which low manufacturing and operating cost of such
each concept requires different payloads of dis- UAVs, they are a good choice for every day high-
tinct weight and size. risk-of-loss missions such as in-situ forest fire sur-
veillance. In addition, mini UAV systems, such
as the ones used in NASA X 48 Blended Wing
Body program [1], serve as an initial prototype
and learning step before scaling up to full size
H. Karakas · E. Koyuncu
Controls and Avionics Laboratory, variants.
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey During the design process of a new aircraft, de-
H. Karakas termination of requirements and mission profile
e-mail: karakashak@itu.edu.tr play a key role as these two steps shape the air-
E. Koyuncu craft design process. In general, determination of
e-mail: emre.koyuncu@itu.edu.tr requirements is made by clients who will purchase
the vehicle. In this work, the design criteria are
G. Inalhan (B)
selected using the endurance time and operational
Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey characteristics of existing successful commercial
e-mail: inalhan@itu.edu.tr mini UAV characteristics. Specifically, the mini
132 J Intell Robot Syst (2013) 69:131–146
UAV is aimed ensure further enhanced require- sign goals as to obtain smaller navigation patterns
ments such as; and slower reconnaissance fly-bys. Range require-
ment is selected as 20 km because of an already
• Aircraft’s endurance should be 3 h. available low weight, low power and lost cost
• Aircraft has to be weighted under 9 kg. communication equipment. If direct and real-time
• Aircraft’s stall speed must be under 12 m/s for link is not required, the vehicle can cover a much
easy launch capability. larger operational radius based on its endurance
• Aircraft’s loiter speed should be near 20 m/s. and cruise speeds. Wing span constraint results
• Aircraft’s range must be 20 km. from portability requirement. Operating altitude
• Payload: Day or night camera. and rate of climb values are chosen to be inline
(Interchangeable) or better in comparison to other fixed wing mini
• Wing Span should be less than 3 m. UAVs. 3D conceptual model of the ITU Tailless
• Hand launched or bungee launched. UAV is illustrated in Fig. 1.
• Landing with parachute. We chose a tailless aircraft configuration for
• Operating altitude is 250 m. our UAV because of its aerodynamic advantages
• Rate of climb to operating altitude should be [2–4]. As there are no tail or canard surfaces
below 2 min. (ROC 2.1 m/s) for longitudinal stability, there is a considerable
decrease in drag, which in fact increases the en-
Each of these requirements not only stem from durance time. Various conceptual designs and
real-life and standard operational needs, but also analysis show that tailless aircraft configurations
result from needs such as portability and ease of increase the aircraft’s overall L/D ratio and thus
operation. A short survey of the existing tailless leading to better basic flight performance [2–4].
and conventional mini UAVs, which are denoted This performance advantage can be easily ob-
as best-in-class, can be seen in Table 1. This survey served by comparing tailless mini UAVs with
on performance characteristics not only gives a
clear and competitive design goal for our concept,
but also provides an estimate of the concept air-
craft’s design values such as wing span and maxi-
mum take-off weight. The design goals and initial
size estimates position ITU Tailless UAV within
the list for a solid overall performance not only in
range but also in endurance while being compact
and light enough to be carried on a backpack.
ITU Tailless UAV’s selection of design goals
can be classified as follows: Aircraft’s endurance
time is chosen as 3 h following the best perfor-
Fig. 1 ITU Tailless UAV’s 3D model—the body/fuselage
mance in class. In comparison to other UAVs, pod and its compartments can be resized/redesigned for
ITU Tailless has slower stall and loiter speed de- different missions
J Intell Robot Syst (2013) 69:131–146 133
P/W(W/N)
12 Metu Guventurk
Desert Hawk
10 Climb
Stall
8
Loiter
6 Climb
4
2
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
W/S (N/m^2)
for optimum performance in an iterative fashion. comparison to the small sweep no twist wing mold.
Lastly, from the two concepts, one of them is se- Therefore, the second concept with no twist and
lected in terms of performance, manufacturability positive profile moment was chosen on the basis
and cost. of similar performance but easier manufacturing.
The initial analysis of the wing geometry de- In order to select the wing profile, various air-
sign process is performed by using the program foils are analyzed with XFOIL program and by us-
XFLR5. XFLR5 utilizes Vortex-Lattice-Method ing UIUC Airfoil Coordinate Database. Airfoils
which gives preliminary results from which the are compared based on their Cmac, Clmax and
configurations can be compared. Cl/Cd ratio (Fig. 6).
After the optimization of these two different For the longitudinal static stability of the flying-
wing configuration concepts, estimated values wing, airfoil’s moment around the aerodynamic
from XFLR5 were compared. The drag coefficient center must be positive. The airfoils which ensure
was found to be equal to 3.1 N for the first concept such moment characteristics are sometimes called
in trimmed loiter condition. For the second con- as reflexed airfoils because they have negative
cept we found the drag coefficient to be equal to camber near the trailing edge. The pitch up mo-
3.13 N for trimmed loiter condition. Given the fact ment of the reflexed airfoils will neutralize pitch
that the analysis was done using Vortex-Lattice- down effect of the wing’s lift. This is because of
Method, such minor differences in drag coefficient the fact that in tailless configurations with fuse-
can be ignored. Comparing from the ease of man- lage pods, aircraft’s center of gravity is generally
ufacturing perspective, if the wing with a large in front of the aerodynamic center. It can be
sweep and twist is chosen, the mold which has seen in Fig. 7, the reflexed profile helps to get
to be used in manufacturing has to be bigger stability/trimability of the aircraft as its Cmo is
and involve a much higher precision 3D CNC in greater than “0”. In addition the front position of
Fig. 6 Airfoils’ analyzes: Fauvel 14% airfoil is chosen because of positive Cm and favorable Cl/Cd value at cruise
138 J Intell Robot Syst (2013) 69:131–146
Fig. 8 ITU Tailless UAV’s final aerodynamic configuration results from the XFLR5 program. The green dots correspond
to trimmed loiter flight condition
J Intell Robot Syst (2013) 69:131–146 139
Comparing the estimated drag force 7.39 N wing structure, we used balsa ribs and carbon-
(Table 7) and the calculated drag force 7.11 N fiber spars because of ease of manufacturing.
from CFD analysis, we observe that the estimation Balsa sheets were cut with laser CNC machine.
and the calculation provide non-contradictory In Fig. 13, it can be seen that the balsa ribs are
results. assembled together with carbon-fiber spars. This
rib structure is covered with 1 mm balsa sheets,
resulting in a total wing weight of 650 g. The
6 Manufacturing manufactured flying wing can be seen in Fig. 14.
For the flight tests, a prototype fuselage pod
ITU Tailless UAV’s first prototype was built is built for to carry the receiver, motor, batteries
using the most readily available materials from and the electronic test equipment. In addition,
the remote controlled vehicle market. For the extra weight was placed within the pod in order
Fig. 14 Manufactured
wing covered with balsa
sheets
to simulate payload weight. The complete system flight tests, various maneuvers including coordi-
including the flying wing and a model fuselage pod nated turns, bank to turns, climbs and descents are
is given in Fig. 15. It is important to note that the conducted. In Figs. 16 and 17, the aircraft’s take-
fuselage pod can be easily changed for different off and loiter flight from one of the flight tests can
missions. be seen.
From the various flight tests, we concluded
that,
• The drag calculations and assumptions are in- tonomous flight tests using the in-house micro-
deed realistic as the throttle stick in loiter was avionics system.
only a little under from the theoretical mid-
position corresponding to loiter.
8 Conclusion
In addition, it was also observed that the ma- In this work, the design study of a tailless air-
neuvering capability of the aircraft is higher in craft with electric propulsion system has been de-
comparison to similar sized UAVs built and tested scribed. Final system performance analyses indi-
within the laboratory. Specifically, the tailless cate that up to 20 m/s cruise speed and maximum
configuration has provided a very valuable UAV 3 h of flight endurance can be achieved while car-
platform not only because of its high performance rying a 1.3 kg payload—a superior performance
capabilities, but also via its ease of operation. in comparison to the other conventional fixed
Current work involves composite manufacturing wing UAVs within the mini class. First prototype
of the ITU Tailless Wing and performing au- has been built and its initial flight tests indicate
146 J Intell Robot Syst (2013) 69:131–146
that the design carries the desired handling quali- 2. Liebeck, R.H., et al.: Blended wing Body Analysis and
ties while satisfying the target loiter velocity and Design. AIAA (1997)
3. Nickel, K., Wolfahrt, M.: Tailless Aircraft in Theory and
climb-rate values. Current work is focused on Practice. AIAA Education Series (1994)
achieving fully autonomous flight. 4. Kroo, I., Watayama, S.: The Challenge and Promise of
Blended-wing-body Optimization. AIAA (1998)
5. Raymer, D.P.: Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Ap-
proach, 2nd edn. AIAA Education Series (1992)
References
6. Viieru, D., Albertani, R., Shyy, W., Ifju, P.: Effect of tip
vortex on wing aerodynamics of micro aerial vehicles.
1. NASA X-48B Blended Wing Body Official Page. http:// In: 22th AIAA Conference Paper, Reno (2004)
www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/research/X-48B (2012). 7. CD-Adapco: Instruction Manual of Star CCM+ 6.04.011
Accessed 19 July 2012 (2011)