A Small UAV Optimized for Efficient Long-Range and VTOL Missions: An Experimental Tandem-Wing Quadplane Drone

Abstract

Most types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, drone) missions requiring Vertical-Take-Off-and-Landing (VTOL) capability could benefit if a drone’s effective range could be extended. Example missions include Search-And-Rescue (SAR) operations, a remote inspection of distant objects, or parcel delivery. There are numerous research works on multi-rotor drones (e.g., quadcopters), fixed-wing drones, VTOL quadplanes, or tilt-motor/tilt-wing VTOLs. We propose a unique compact VTOL UAV optimized for long hover and long-range missions with great lifting capacity and manoeuvrability: a tandem-wing quadplane with fixed motors only. To the best of our knowledge, such a drone has not yet been researched. The drone was designed, built, and tested in flight. Construction details, its advantages, and issues are discussed in this research.

Aerodynamic Performance Analysis of VTOL Arm Configurations of a VTOL Plane UAV Using a Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation

“…We attempted to keep the variables, including the aircraft weight, the cruise speed, the wing area, the wing planform design, horizontal and vertical stabilizer volume coefficient, fuselage geometry, and the forward propulsion system intake and exhaust geometry the same in all configurations. The following arm configurations were used in the comparison: a. Quad-plane [6]; b. Twin-tail boom [7][8][9]; c. Tandem wing [10,11]; d. Transverse arm.…”

Precision Landing Tests of Tethered Multicopter and VTOL UAV on Moving Landing Pad on a Lake

“…fuselage, wings, tail, etc.) is made of fiberglass and carbon fiber with wooden and carbon plates supporting the structure, which is a common technique [ 24 ]. This particular platform was chosen because of its parameters and flexibility for modifications.…”

“…Many systems based on these platforms are designed for this task, Refs. [ 22 , 23 ] and many others take this application into account during the development process [ 24 ]. In addition to the advances in data acquisition and processing in particular applications, a UAV’s performance in the task universally depends on its parameters and ability to follow the system’s commands.…”

Special Issue on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…Optimization of the vehicle configuration can also be considered to account for specific requirements of the mission. Optimized for long hover and long-range missions, a new tandem-wing quadplane UAV configuration is proposed in [5].…”