Miniature Aerial Vehicle – Airframe characterization
R. Shivkumar, Hemendra Arya & K. Sudhakar Department of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Powai, Mumbai – 400076 e-mail: arya@aero.iitb.ac.in Abstract: Airframe design is an important step in the development of mini aerial vehicles. Airframe design means the shape and size of the aircraft. Issues related to mini aerial vehicle design are discussed in the paper. In this paper a case study of design of a 0.6 m fixed wing aerial vehicle is presented. This case study also brings out the requirement of various tools to conduct such an exercise. Introduction: Significant interest is being shown by academic institutions in research activities related to Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV’s) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s). Flying platforms and their design with suitable payloads reinforce classroom education while exposing students to a host of flight related problems and issues of systems integration. There has been a long felt need to bring students, especially in the field of engineering, closer to the complexities and risks in dealing with actual systems. The Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Bombay has decided to make headway in this direction by developing remotely piloted aerial vehicles as experimental platforms[1]. The various disciplines required for such a design activity are aerodynamics, performance, structures, stability, control and propulsion. Each of these designs are different compared to conventional aircraft. Scalability cannot be applied directly and it opened up new research areas. Low speed aerodynamics, new construction methodologies, efficient power plant and Navigation Guidance and control are few emerging research fields in the development of these mini aerial vehicles. Methodology developed for the airframe design will help in reducing the time required for