PurposeTo provide an effective numerical method for analysis and design of aerodynamic characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles basing on commercial package VSAERO.Design/methodology/approachCalculation was made by VSAERO package, which is based on a classical panel method enhanced on boundary layer method. Paper explains how to use efficiently VSAERO package, which utilizes advanced CAD techniques, in modern designing of unmanned aircraft.FindingsDuring aerodynamic analysis of unmanned aircraft the computing cycle is repeated many times until the required accuracy is obtained and when the best performance of an aircraft is achieved. Design process depends on the number of iterations. If the preliminary configuration (the so‐called starting design point) is well selected and the aerodynamic analysis is completed in a relatively short time, then the overall design time will be shortened.Research limitations/implicationsThe panel method is very useful tool in spite of different limitations. For example, the Reynolds number has to be sufficiently high, angles of attack and sideslip have to be small enough. Computational process is relatively fast and the accuracy depends on the geometry representation. The boundary layer included into the computational model improves the accuracy of aerodynamic calculations. This methodology is limited to subsonic and low transonic speeds.Practical implicationsA very useful source of computational information and patterns to follow, especially for engineering students and engineers dealing with aerodynamic of unmanned aviation. Surface panel geometry can be transferred from UNIGRAPHICS via IGES files or can be generated from scratch using SPING or PEP software.Originality/valueThis paper offers a practical help for designers planning to develop a new unmanned platform. VSAERO package appeared to be a very useful tool for aerodynamic calculation in the full cycle design activity. This software utilizes the panel method enhanced on a boundary layer model for determination of the fundamental aerodynamic characteristic of an arbitrary aircraft. Presented paper shows a very efficient way how to compute the aerodynamics necessary for design of a new MALE class UAV.

The paper presents a concept of tandem-wing configuration aircraft that was a Warsaw University of Technology proposal for the personal air transport system. The project was developed at Warsaw University of Technology, within the PPLANE project (FP7 – Personal Plane: Assessment and Validation of Pioneering Concepts for Personal Air Transport Systems). First, analysis of the general concept, advantages and disadvantages of tandem-wing configuration, and possible application as a personal air transport system vehicle are presented. Next, aerodynamic design is analyzed and dynamic stability is tested. All numerical analyses were made by use of the well-tested professional software for aerodynamic (MGAERO) and stability (SDSA) analyses.

The article presents the innovative unmanned aerial vehicle project for emergency medical services. Designed unmanned aerial vehicle combines vertical takeoff and landing characteristics with fast forward flight capability that are vital to perform such an emergency medical mission. The main purpose of the designed unmanned aerial vehicle is to deliver the necessary medical package to the place where access is difficult, and estimated arrival time of conventional ambulance is too long. The cost of the support of such unmanned aerial vehicle could be significantly lower than in case of medical helicopter, which is not necessary in some cases. Designed unmanned aerial vehicle can also be used for fast delivery of essential medical substances (e.g. blood). The selection of configuration was the first and crucial step of the design. After analysis of many different copter configurations, together with selected crash reports analysis, the coaxial quadcopter configuration crossed with conventional airplane was selected. All power units for VTOL capability are electric, and they are doubled for redundancy purposes, with maximum T/W ratio about 2.0. Such configuration allows to sustain a stable flight (vertical phases) in case of one motor failure. Two versions of the vehicle are designed: fully electric (power units for the forward flight and vertical takeoff and landing are electric) and mixed where forward flight unit is a small piston engine. The final layout was the result of conceptual investigation and preliminary research, MDO and trade-off analysis, where as many aspects as possible were considered. The main problem was to meet the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities, relatively long range and endurance, expected payload (3 kg) and the requirement not to exceed 25 kg of maximum take-off weight. Paper presents the design process from initial requirement to the final configuration accepted to be manufactured.

This paper presents the results of a numerical study of the aerodynamic shape of the Rocket Plane LEX. The Rocket Plane is a main part of the Modular Airplane System – MAS; a special vehicle devoted to suborbital tourist flights. The Rocket Plane was designed for subsonic and supersonic flight conditions. Therefore, the impact of the Mach number should be considered during the aerodynamic design of the Rocket Plane. The main goal of the investigation was to determine the sensitivity of the Rocket Plane aerodynamic characteristics to the Mach number during the optimisation of the LEX geometry. The paper includes results of the optimisation process for Mach number from the range Ma = 0.5 to Ma = 2.5. These results reveal that the aerodynamic characteristics of models optimised for the subsonic and transonic regime of Mach numbers (up to Ma = 1) were also improved for the supersonic speed regime. However, in the case of models optimised for the supersonic flight regime the aerodynamic characteristics in subsonic flight regime, are inferior compared to the model before the optimisation process.

The article includes study on the influence of a LEX (leading-edge extension) and wing tip plates on aerodynamic characteristics of the Rocket Plane in tailless configuration for manned suborbital flights. The research was conducted only for the low speed regime in the wind tunnel at the Warsaw University of Technology. Tests were carried out for a few configurations of the Rocket Plane. Moreover, two shapes of LEX were investigated. Analysis of results was focused on the aerodynamic synergism effect only. The influence of LEX and the wing tip plates of the Rocket Plane on the aerodynamic coefficients was identified.