KJMDES

I received a feasibility commission back in '94 to design a long-duration UAV with autonomous flight capability. This was a very cool project and was quite extensive.

Motorola and Raytheon's application departments helped us on the inertial nav systems and Kodak on the IR and video imaging platform. The computer program was written in VB and took six months to write. I loved this project and actually got about 60% through the prototype when the plug was pulled. Not much remains in the way of pix and files. This is all I have with me on the road.

These days, I am doing less ambitious designs for AP work and such. The helo below is an example. Hope to get it to do some of the work itself as the project progresses.

History........Gotta love it


Cheers
Kevin

mithrandir

My Feedback: (2)

Why was it a three lifting surface design?

KJMDES

There were two primary reasons that compliment each other. On a purely practical note, as the UAV was designed for shipboard operation with a vertical net as the capture system for recovery, I reasoned that with the appropriate spacing, the odds were good that it would punch the nose and foreword surfaces through a net square and hook in, so the springbuck wouldn't toss it back on the deck.
The other seemed to play well with the intended flight profile. Its mission was pure search, and the planned, somewhat docile pattern had very little vertical component. To increase the duration, lower the main wing loading, and reduce long-moment elevator deflection, this seemed a good solution, and it conveniently worked with the recovery requirement. There was also a slight advantage to how it affected the flow over the main wing strakes at higher angles of attack during recovery.

That was my thinking at the time

Cheers
Kevin

K.rashenburn

Verry , Verry WAYYYYY Cool!!!