Radio Controlled Aircraft

A Radio-Controlled Aircraft is an aerial vehicle with an absent on-board human operator but
implores all the concepts of aerodynamic forces to generate lift. It is able to execute flight by
remotely controlled from an on-ground transmitter. The earliest design of electronically guided
modeled aircrafts can be associated with the late 19th century. Since there initiation design and
flying of Radio-controlled aircrafts has propelled into a hobby noted to have commenced from
the 2000s. Due to the improvements in cost, weight, performance and motor capacities, batteries
and electronics, a wide range of models and styles are now available. Ranging from scientific,
government to military applications RC-model aircraft are used for experiments, gathering
weather readings, aerodynamic modeling and testing. This literature review mainly focusses on
an experimental tourist carrying model aircraft.
They are numerous types of RC model Aircraft on the market, for example for a beginner
hobbyist there are park flyers and trainers. For the more qualified pilots glow play engine,
electric powered and sailplane aircraft. While they are highly experienced flyers who opt for jets,
pylon, racers, helicopters, autogiros, 3D aircraft and other high-end competition aircraft.
We are going to design an RC model aircraft imploring the use of an electrically driven motor.
Following the experiment study made by Bryan Smith (1962) on the 1/8th scale models of steel
frames infill embedded with a motor subjected to diagonal load. The findings of this study
showed that the diagonal tensile or compressive failure generated in the motor infill. He made
the relationship between the length of contact of the infill to be a loading carrying capacity. Not
only what is stated above, He went on to make an expression to find 18 out of the effective width
of the equivalent strut by taking into account an equivalent diagonal strut to replace the infill.
A team from the University of Illinios did a research on how to eliminate some of the wing
types, equivalent reasoning was used due to their inherent structural complexity and
manufacturing difficulties. The tapered, swept wing, channel wing gull wing were all left out
because they created structural problems with the spur. The spur is very cardinal for it covers the
carrying of payload requirements on the wing tips. The tandem wing and joined wing were
grouped together due to the fact that the joined wing is essentially a tandem with swept surfaces.
The multi-wings beyond a biplane where discarded because they lead to added weight
complexity. The mono-plane, biplane and tandem wing were returned.
The same team went on to do a research on the different types of tails that can be used on their
RC aircraft. The H-tail was discarded because of the RAC penalty of having more than one
vertical surface with the controls. It was concluded that the cruciform be grouped, T and
conventional tails to be put into the similar group and referred to as the conventional group. The
V-tail and inverted V-tail were also grouped and the vertical only and the case of no empennage
would be considered only in the case of selecting a flying wing configuration.
They went on to do a research and from that It was clear that the airline would need to have an
exceptional ground handling capability because of all the ground operations required. It was
decided to investigate the use of the braking system. The possible landing gear configuration
considered were a tail dragger, bicycle, mono-wheel and tricycle landing gear. None of these
were eliminated since there feasibility deperched on the overall size and configuration of the
aircraft. It was decided that it would be simple to identify the best type of the landing gear after
the wing fuselage Empennage and propulsion types were decided
A team from Utah State University (2003/2004) took on a project to design an RC aircraft model
and the first step in their manufacturing process consisted of cutting and tarnishing exact plugs of
the aircraft body. The plugs were used to create reusable mods. Each plug was cut out of the
foam sheet insulation, and then it was covered with a thin layer of fiber glass for surface
preparation. After the surface had been filed sanded to a point quality surface, the plug was fitted
into a molding board which provided a flat surface along the center line of the part. One half of
the mold was laid up right on top of the partying surface and allowed to cure. The second half of
the mold was constructed after the parting board was removed, in order to mate together with the
first half of the mold. Once the mold was created, there were laid up using a balsa core sandwich
with fiber glass panels. The mold construction was time consuming but it enabled exact replicas
to be made of all the other parts of the aircrafts.
Prototype testing served as a valuable tool towards the design of the aircraft. Most importantly
the prototype allowed the propulsion team to find the absolute optimal configuration, while the
structures group was able to reduce structural weight through repetitive testing of the wing and
fuselage laminate.
Oklahom State Black team from Oklahom State university designed and constructed a fixed
wing aircraft in the 2003/2004 Cessna/ONR Design/ Build/ Fly Competition. At the beginning of
the conceptual design phase, aircraft approximation and Figure of Merits (FOM) were developed
from the mission requirements of the aircraft, later in the conceptual phase, these critical design
parameters were investigated within the propulsion, aerodynamic and structural areas of the
aircraft.
In preliminary design phase, more detailed analysis and experimental testing were performed.
The computer model was updated to analyze a choice of aircraft configuration’s mission profile
computing flight times, airspeed, rated aircraft cost, iterations were done in the program to find
the optimal airfoil wing area, wing span, number of battery cells and motor / battery / propeller
combination. These tests verified many of the figures of merit found in the conceptual design
phase and uncovered other design parameters such as pit times and takeoff distance.
During the detailed design phase, finite element analysis flight simulation programs, dynamic
stability analysis and physical experiments were run to finalize component selection and systems
architecture concluded the preliminary design phase. All aircraft dimension, control systems,
structure and propulsion systems were among the components finalized in the phase. Weight
improvements were made through continuous refinements of the modern construction method.
Construction drawings were finalized to ensure proper and timely construction. The final result
was a well designed and constructed aircraft.
The main empennage configuration considered were conventional tail, v-tail and canard
configuration. Conventional tail was chosen based on the stability and construction concerns.
Several different airfoil types were considered but a compromise between High lift airfoils and
low drag was chosen. Non retractable tail dragger landing gear was selected over other possible
landing gear configuration design.