Chapter 2

Preliminary Design

No Name/ Endurance Range TO Payload WPL/WTO

Designation (km) weight weight
1 RQ-4 Global 32 hours 22,800 km 32,250 lbs 3000 lbs 0.093
Hawk
2 Raven RQ-11B 90 minutes 10 km 4.2 lbs 6.5 oz 0.097
3 Scan Eagle 23 hours 100 km 48.5 lbs 13 lbs 0.27
4 RQ-7B Shadow 7 hours 110 km 375 100 lbs 0.27
5 MQ-1C Gray 30 hours 3,750 km 3600 lbs 800 lbs 0.22
Eagle
6 A-160 24 hours 4,023 km 6500 lbs 1,000 lbs 0.15
Hummingbird
7 MQ-8 Fire Scout 8 hours 203 km 3,150 lbs 500 lbs 0.16
8 Black Eagle 50 4 hours 260 km 77 lbs 22 lbs 0.28
9 Silver Fox 12 hours 32 km 28 lbs 4 lbs 0.14
10 Killer Bee 18 hours 100 km 250 lbs 20 lbs 0.08
11 Northrop Grumman 40 hr - 5,000 1240 lb 0.25
Firebird

12 RQ-5 Hunter 21 hr 125 km 885 kg 90 kg 0.102

13 Yamaha RMAX 1 hour - 94 31 0.33
14 Predator B 30 hours 4,500 kg 340 kg internal 0.38
SkyGuardian payload +
1360 kg
external
payload
Table 2.1. Payloads weight ratio of several UAVs

No Payload type Type/brand Mass, Weight Remarks

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1 Optical camera TL300MN FPV 15 grams Size: 21× 26 ×30 mm
2 Optical camera DJI Zenmuse X5 530 grams With gimbal for quadcopters
3 Video camera CC-1XHRM 0.29 kg Sony
4 Radar Garmin GSX 70 12.7 lbs (4.31 Used in a NASA Global Hawk
kg)
5 Radar Lincoln Lab 175 lb For research in UAV
application
6 Decoy ALE-50 4.5 kg Used in ECM
7 ECM system IDECM 73.4 kg ITT Electronic Systems
8 Radar warning AN/ALR-67 45 kg Raytheon
receiver
9 Laser range XP SSXP 2.5 kg SureShot
finder

10 Laser range BOD 63M-LA01- 0.26 kg Balluaf

finder S115
Table 2.2. Weights for a number of UAV payloads

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No Autopilot model Mass Features
1 APM 2.8 ArduPilot 70 gram Includes 3-axis gyro, accelerometer and magnetometer,
5Hz GPS module, altimeter, mounting for the vibration
damping plate; Dimension: 70.5×45×13.5 mm
2 Omnibus F4+ 24.2 Includes flight controller (F4 + OSD + SDCARD +
(Plus) gram VTX + BUZZER), size: 30.5 mm × 30.5 mm
3 F4 (V3) Omnibus 20 gram With BEC & OSD & Black box (DSHOT1200 /
30.5×30.5 mm)
4 MP21283X 28 gram integrated with 3-axis gyros/accelerometers, GPS,
MicroPilot pressure altimeter, pressure airspeed sensors (4 cm ×
10 cm)

No INS Weight Remarks

1 Kearfott KN-4072 11 lb Used on Global Hawk
2 Kearfott KN-4073 8 lb Used on Firescot
3 LN-100G 21.6 lb Northrop Grumman
4 RCCT GS-111 1.7 lb
Table 2.3. Mass of a few commercial autopilot and INS units

Figure 2.1. F4 (V3) Omnibus Flight Controller (Dimensions: 30.5 mm×30.5 mm)

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 3 Cruise 4

Loiter;
6 Cruise back Aerial
Climb
filming
Descent 5
Take- 2
off1
8 7
Landing

Figure 2.2. Typical mission profile for a remotely controlled UAV

No Mission segment W i+1 /W i

1 Taxi and take-off 0.98
2 Climb 0.97
3 Descent 0.99
4 Approach and landing 0.997
Table 2.4. Typical segment weight fractions

No Mission segment P
1 Taxi and take-off 2%
2 Climb 1%
3 Descent 0.05%
4 Approach and landing 0.05%
Table 2.5. Typical electric power consumptions for non-cruise segments

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No Parameter Typical values Name
1 CDo 0.02-0.03 Zero-lift drag coefficient – fixed landing gear
2 CDo 0.03-0.045 Zero-lift drag coefficient – retractable landing gear
3 AR 5-20 Aspect ratio
4 CLc 0.2-0.5 Cruise lift coefficient
5 CLmax 1.2-1.6 Maximum lift coefficient
6 e 0.6-0.9 Oswald efficiency factor
7 P 0.6-0.8 Prop efficiency
8 (CL/CD)max 6-10 Maximum lift-to-drag ratio – fixed landing gear
9 (CL/CD)max 8-16 Maximum lift-to-drag ratio – retractable landing
gear
Table 2.6. Typical values for a number of parameters for a fixed-wing UAV

No UAV type a b
1 Small remote controlled (RC) -0.00296 0.87
2 HALE 1.07×10-5 0.126
3 MALE 5.1×10-6 0.42
4 Quadcopter -4.6×10-5 0.68
Table 2.7. The coefficients “a” and “b” for the empirical equation of 2.36

40
 No System Component Weight (lb)
1 Radar Transmitter 21
2 Receiver and exciter 10
3 Processor 55
4 Antenna system 14
5 Cables and connectors 10
Subtotal 110
Support Inertial Navigation System (including heat sink) 17
Equipment
6 Data link 12
7 Altimeter and GPS receiver 9
8 Support structure 25
9 Cooling fans 2
10 Subtotal 65
Total 175
Table 2.8. A UAV Radar and support equipment weight breakdown

W Graph 1, Vmax
P Graph 2, STO
Graph 3, ROC

Design point Graph 4, hc

Graph 5, Vs

Acceptable
(W/P)d region

W
S
(W/S)d

41
 Figure 2.3. Matching plot for a prop-driven fixed-wing UAV

T Graph 1, Vmax
W Graph 2, STO
Graph 3, ROC
Graph 4, hc
Graph 5, Vs

(T/W)d Acceptable
region

Design
point
W /S
(W/S)d

Figure 2.4. Matching plot for a fixed-wing jet UAV

Top-view Side-view
Figure 2.5. Quadcopter configuration

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 Figure 2.6. Quadcopter DJI Phantom 4 Pro

No Feature Specification
1 Number of engines 4
2 Engines type Electric
3 Engines configuration All upward in x-shape
4 Propeller rotation Two clockwise, two counterclockwise
5 Takeoff and landing Vertical
6 Hover Yes
7 Landing gear Fixed – skid
8 Speed slow
9 Drag High
Table 2.9. Technical features of a typical quadcopter

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 S

TO

W/P
(lb/hp)

max

W/S (lb/ft2) V
Figure 2.7. Matching plot for example problem 2.4
S
Ceiling
ROC

Design point

Acceptable region

44