Search Results

This paper presents the design process of an UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) for general civil purposes. The aircraft was designed to serve as test platform for the autonomous flight controller developed by the SIDEVAAN project (System Development for Autonomous Aerial Vehicle) of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Procedures used for aircraft conception and manufacturing are described. Aerodynamics, stability and control, performance and loads calculations are presented including particular design methods applied specifically to light aircrafts. Details concerning computational procedures used are included and constructive solutions during the manufacture process are presented.

The process of takeoff distance estimation for nose-gear light aircrafts involves several parameters such as aircraft total weight, runway type, engine power, aircraft geometry, aircraft aerodynamic characteristics, among others. This work demonstrates a method to evaluate the takeoff distance through monitoring the force system acting on the aircraft during the takeoff run. The numerical approach considers discrete time steps. Details of the implementation and limitations of the method are presented. Through this procedure it is possible to easily vary the basic aircraft configuration, allowing fast analysis of many different configurations to select the best for a particular performance.