054-Micro Aerial Vehicles Design Challenges State of The Art Review

Micro Aerial Vehicles Design Challenges:
State of The Art Review
Ibraheem M. Al-Qadi* and Ali M. Al-Bahi†

King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
The potentials of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV’s) have generated

an enormous interest in this technology. MAV’s have many
advantages which make it suitable for several military as well as
civilian missions such as reconnaissance over battlefields and
surveillance of urban areas. However, there are significant technical
challenges that are hindering the efficient utilization of MAV’s
technology. These include aerodynamics of low Reynolds Number
flows, small scale power generation and power storage, navigation,
and communication, propulsion and control as well as
manufacturability. This paper review some of the challenges related
to aerodynamics, stability and control, and MAV’s design trends.
I. Introduction
T HERE had been a major effort in recent years toward designing aircraft that are as
small as possible for special limited duration military and civil missions. As stated by
Mueller1, the current goal is to design Micro-Air-Vehicles (MAV’s) with a 15-cm
maximum dimension that has a mass of less than 90g. These vehicles are of interest since
electronic surveillance and detection sensor equipment can now be miniaturized so that the
entire payload mass is less than 18g.
MAV’s of such small dimensions have many advantages including rapid deployment,
real time data acquisition capabilities, low radar cross section, low noise and low
production cost. The primary missions of interest include surveillance, detection,
communications and the placement of unattended sensors. Surveillance missions include
day and night video and infrared images of battlefields as well as urban areas. Such
information is considered very useful in giving the number and location of opposing
forces, hostage rescue, counter drug operations and sensing of biological agents, chemical
compounds and nuclear materials.2
*
Assistant Professor, Aeronautical Engineering Department, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589,
Saudi Arabia.
†
Professor, Aeronautical Engineering Department, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi
Arabia..
29
SSAS UAV Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (June 6, 2006)
Paper No. SSAS-2006-054
The purpose of this paper is to review current development and challenges related to
MAV’s in the areas of aerodynamics, stability and control, and design procedures. The
present work discusses MAV’s aerodynamic challenges, agility and controllability issues,
and design process systematization. The paper is concluded by addressing the future trends
in MAV’s design.
II. MAV’s Aerodynamic Challenges

With the growing interest in micro aerial vehicles (MAV) the challenging problem of
low Reynolds numbers flows has become a hot subject in the aeronautical research
community. MAV’s fly at low Reynolds numbers range (less than 200000) due to low
speeds and small dimensions. A number of problems are associated with the dominant
effects of viscosity at this flight regime, including boundary layer growth, separation,
transition, and unsteady effects.
Small scale flight imposes several challenges and significant technical barriers among
which aerodynamics is one of the most interesting. The combination of small length scale
and low velocities results in a flight regime of very low Reynolds Numbers which is totally
different from conventional aircraft flying regime. This is particularly clear when the long
term goal of MAV’s is considered: mass of less than 30g, a wing span of 8cm and an
endurance of 20 to 30 min at speeds between 30 to 65 km/hr. This identifies a Reynolds
Number between 45000 to 150000. It is well-known that the aerodynamic efficiency as
defined by the lift to drag ratio deteriorates rapidly, for smooth airfoils, as the chord
Reynolds Number decreases below 100000 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Variation of CL/CD with Re. (Ref. 1)
MAV configurations include: fixed wing, rotary wing and flapping wing vehicles.
Each configuration has its pros and cons in line with the prescribed mission and vehicle
viability. Fixed wing vehicles must be designed as a system consisting of airframe,
propulsion, payload, and avionics. Well established design methods for larger operational
fixed wing unmanned air vehicles (UAV) could be applied with some precautions and
modified aerodynamic characteristics
30
Studies showed that a combination of low aspect ratio (AR) flying wing configuration
and thin cambered airfoil sections2-3 offer the optimal performance for MAV’s (figure 2).
Experimental and numerical studies4-6 concluded that thin airfoils with modest camber are
the best choice for MAV’s. This was also observed in insects and small birds which
achieve good aerodynamic performance with thin cambered wings. The choice of low
Figure 2: Effect of Aspect Ratio on lift coefficient. (Ref. 3)
aspect ratio wings is shaped by two factors: size constraints versus lift requirements and
other aerodynamic performance factors such as max L/D and stall angle.
Low AR wings give the largest wing area for a given wing span which is a size
constraint in MAV’s. Additionally, low AR planforms have an advantage over high AR
due to the formation of leading edge vortices. The low-pressure generated by the vortices
leads to a large increase in lift and stall angle (figure 3). However, low AR wings suffer
Figure 3: Formation of low pressure region over a low AR wing due to leading-edge and tip
vortices (Ref. 1)
31
from a number of disadvantages at low Re conditions. The unsteady formation of leading-
edge and tip vortices which propagate toward the wing root with unfavorable effects on
aerodynamic performance and flight dynamics7 such as increasing induced drag and
affecting side force, rolling moment, and yawing moment. The asymmetries in vortex
shedding and interaction causes unsteady wing loading with undesirable effect on
boundary layer growth, separation, and transition. Additionally, the increase in vortex
strength at high angle of attack lowers the effectiveness of control surfaces.7
Aerodynamic coefficients are independent of the free stream velocity for high Re. On
the contrary, at low Re, the variation of these coefficients is dependent on the free stream
velocity. This is so because of the dominating effects of viscosity and the formation of
thick boundary layer with significant modification to the effective airfoil geometry and
loss of camber.5 It is known that, in the presence of adverse pressure gradients, laminar
boundary layers separate earlier than turbulent boundary layers. Laminar separation bubble
(figure 4) is a common occurrence under low Re conditions. Although laminar boundary
layer gives the lowest skin friction the formation of the separation bubble considerably
increases drag and reduces lift to a point where turbulent boundary layer is preferable. It
also changes lift and moment characteristics of the wing section. If the adverse pressure
gradients is not too strong the bubble reattach as a turbulent boundary layer.8
It is evident from the preceding discussion that flow control is a key in designing high-
performance wings for low Re. As an example, the intensity of tip vortices can be reduced
using winglets.9 Moreover, as a remedy for the laminar separation bubble, the initial
laminar boundary layer is tripped to force transition to turbulent boundary layer using
turbulators.2&10 Nonetheless, the use of winglets and turbulators at low Re is not well
understood and needs much further study and analysis. Flexible wings11 have shown
improve performance due to the passive control of laminar separation bubble through wing
flexure. Deformation of flexible wings reduces the effective angle attack and thus allowing
MAV’s to achieve higher angles of attack without stalling and that the deformation also
Figure 4: Vortex structure and separation bubble over a low AR wing (Ref. 58)
32
contributes to weaker wing tip vortices.12-14 A less practical method of flow control is
surface temperature. Experimental studies15 demonstrated that large increase in lift at low
Re is achievable by reducing the temperature of the supper surface and increasing that of
the lower surface.
Aerodynamic characteristics of MAV’s need to be obtained from advanced
computational fluid dynamics software and accurate wind tunnel testing on full scale
models and airfoil sections. MAV’s have much lower wing loading than conventional
aircrafts. These tiny loads are difficult to measure and require the design of special
balance system.4 Additionally, there is an increasing uncertainty in aerodynamic
performance with decreasing Re due to viscous effects, geometry, and surface roughness.16
Hanff17devised a novel facility for low Re testing. The concept of the facility is based
using high kinematic viscosity medium to increase the model size while keeping Re
constant and thus overcoming the problem of minute loads and uncertainty.
In contrast, CFD methods have proven to be adequate for predicting aerodynamic
performance of current MAV designs. Yet as future MAV’s get smaller and the
assumption of continuum mechanics breaks down, the incorporation of molecular flow
physics into CFD packages is necessary.18
III. Agility and Controllability Issues

Flight stability and control is one of the principle challenges hindering the development
of agile MAV’s. Stability and control problems in MAV’s are associated with low
moments of inertia, small weight, and wind gusts.19 MAV’s low moments of inertia make
them susceptible to rapid increase in angular accelerations.20 This is further exacerbated as
aerodynamic damping of angular rates decreases with reducing wingspan. Wind gust is
another potential source of instability since the ratio of wind gust to aircraft speed is much
higher for MAV’s than that of an airliner. As a result, strong wind gusts can greatly change
the vehicle’s flight path and might render it uncontrollable.
As mentioned earlier, unsteady asymmetric formation of tip vortices causes rolling
instabilities21 and reduces control surfaces effectiveness. Flight test demonstrated that
flexible wing MAV’s are stable and exhibit longitudinal and lateral/directional
controllability resulting in enhanced flying qualities.12 This can be attributed to higher stall
angles and weaker wing tip vortices in flexible wings.12 Laminar separation bubbles can
also lead to instability and control problems by changing lift and moment characteristics of
the wing.8
In general, stability analysis and control system design for MAV’s follows traditional
methods used for larger vehicles. Location of center of gravity (CG) with respect to the
aerodynamics center (AC) is an important parameter in stability analysis. For static pitch
stability, CG should be ahead of AC by a distance known as static margin. The static
margin for MAV’s should be larger than that for larger vehicles since allowable margin of
error in MAV’s stability is small.22 Locating CG at 15% of the chord with a static margin
of 10% is considered adequate for flying wing designs. This requirement can be achieved
by placing the engine and batteries near the nose ahead of the wing.23 Other alternatives
such as spanwise distribution of the load or placing it inside the wing, using bulky airfoil
33
section, will cause roll stability problems and/or increased drag.23 Roll stability is achieved
with wing dihedral and/or keeping CG as low as possible by placing the fuselage below the
wing.22 Yaw stability is achieved with the vertical tail. MAV’s usually have high vertical
tail volume to deal with roll instability.24 Placing the tail under the wing increases its
effectiveness at high angles of attack where strong tip vortices can significantly reduce
effectiveness of control surfaces.25
To carry out successful surveillance missions and produce steady video images,
MAV’s must fly smoothly. However, high frequency natural oscillations in yaw and roll
were observed in some MAV’s designs causing shaky video images and a yaw damper was
used to mitigate the problem.26
MAV’s are usually remotely piloted via radio control system with onboard video
camera. However, future MAV’s are expected to make use of biologically inspired
guidance system. Ettinger et al.20 developed a vision-based autonomy system for MAV’s.
The system is a horizon-detection algorithm that utilizes images from a forward-looking
camera. Further extensions of the system include the ability to detect three-dimensional
environments to enable missions in complex urban settings. The team has also worked on
incorporating a GPS system to provide heading information. The combined use of vision-
based guidance, GPS system, and three-axis sensors is expected to allow for fully
autonomous remote surveillance missions that involve target tracking (figure 5).
Figure 5: Fully- Autonomous MAV surveillance system. (Ref. 20)
IV. Design Procedures Systematization
A. Historical Perspective
The world wide interest in Micro Aerial Vehicles is traced back by several
researchers22&27to the work of RAND Corporation in 1993.28 In this work the authors
34
indicated that the development of insect-size flying and crawling systems could help give
the US a significant military advantage in the coming years. During the following two
years, a more detailed study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Lincoln Laboratories and the Naval Research Laboratory, have concluded that the concept
is workable.29 This study resulted in a DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency) workshop on MAVs in 1995. In the fall of 1996, DARPA funded further MAV
studies under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. AeroVironment
Inc. performed a Phase I study, which concluded that a six-inch MAV was feasible.30 In
the spring of 1998, AeroVironment was awarded a Phase II SBIR contract, which resulted
in the current Black Widow MAV configuration.31-32
Successful MAV configurations are traced by Wu et al33 back to the work of
AeroVironment Inc.27, 32& 34 who developed the first battery-powered Black Widow MAV,
which carries an off-the-shelf camera that downlinks a video image to the pilot on the
ground to guide the operation of the vehicle. Lockheed Sanders35-37 developed a
MicroSTAR MAV prototype with a 5-g navigation system directed by the ground station
for heading control. Naval Research Laboratory38-40 developed two micro tactical
expendable MAVs, which are hand-launched, dual-propeller and fixed-wing air vehicles,
with wingspans of less than 450 mm, depending on the payload weight. Ifju et al.41-42 and
other studies12-43 developed a flexible-wing MAV with a wingspan of less than 450 mm,
using biologically inspired design and the modern composite materials. Morris and
Holden44 developed several internal combustion engine (ICE) MAV prototypes including
Trochoid and Helirocket MAVs, which exhibit abilities of autonomous taking-off,
hovering, lateral translation in light winds, and landing. A new electromechanical
multimode insect named Entomopter MAV is under development by Michelson and
Reece45 and Hollingum.46 This kind of vehicle will be powered by a reciprocating chemical
muscle that converts chemical energy into motion through a direct noncombustive
chemical reaction. Patel et al.47 are developing a fully solar powered miniature aircraft
with a wingspan of 760 mm. In the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS),
Pornsin-sirirak et al.48-50 developed a battery-powered ornithopter Microbat MAV with a
weight of 11 g, which could fly for 5–18 s. Fearing et al.51, Yan et al.52, Koo and Sastry53,
and Shim et al.54 developed a micromechanical flying insect with the target wingspan of
less than 25 mm and a target mass of 100 mg using a novel thorax fabrication method,
taking the inspiration from real insects and MEMS technology.
Figure 6: Microbat Design.

35
B. Contributions from Universities
On universities' level55, micro air vehicles (MAVs) are remotely controlled (RC),
lightweight vehicles engineered with very specific objectives in mind. They are commonly
constructed from such materials as high-density foam and carbon fiber. High-density foam
is used due to its low weight and its ease in machining shape-specific compartments for
housing components. Carbon fiber has the advantage of being lightweight and incredibly
strong, but it is more difficult to manufacture. The propulsive systems for MAVs have
evolved from very small internal combustion engines to electric motors. Internal
combustion engines were originally used due to the inability of the electric motors to
produce the necessary power output, but as the energy density of batteries has improved,
electric motors are now a nearly ubiquitous solution. The power to the motor and the rest
of the components is provided by one of three types of batteries, lithium polymer, nickel
metal hydride, or nickel cadmium. Lithium polymer batteries are now the most common
choice due to their high energy density. The aircraft are usually controlled by employing
RC servos. The advantage of using RC servos is that no additional communication
equipment is required onboard the aircraft, thereby minimizing weight. Weight is also
minimized by limiting the payload of the aircraft to only that which is required to achieve
flight. Typically, MAVs only house a camera that allows the pilot to stably fly the vehicle.
These weight minimization design choices, coupled with the miniaturization of electronics,
allow some university MAVs to meet the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s
size definition of a MAV, which dictates the aircraft can be at most six inches in the
greatest dimension and have a mass of at most 100 grams.
As Indicated by Grasmeyer and Keennon27, universities have been involved in MAV
research for many years. Competitions have been held since 1997 at the University of
Florida and Arizona State University. The goals of the competitions have been to observe a
target located 600 m from the launch site and to keep a two-ounce pay load aloft for at
least 2 minutes. In 2001 there were two MAV competition categories. One was a heavy
lift competition in which the MAV was required to carry a 2 oz. payload. The other
competition was a micro surveillance competition in which planes had to fly by video
camera to a target area, photograph the target, and return to the launch site.
Figure 7: Univ. of Florida flexible wing design.
36
Culbreth et al.56 consider that the University of Florida the most successful over the
past years in the MAV competitions. In 2001 they won in both the heavy lift and
surveillance categories. Their plane was constructed of a resilient plastic attached to a
carbon fiber web structure. This resulted in a crash resistant airfoil. Florida’s design
philosophy centered around the 90 grams of thrust produced by the COX TEE-DEE .01
internal combustion engine.57
Notre Dame’s MAV design entered both the heavy lift and the surveillance
competitions. The design has a large fuselage which would increase the drag greatly. It
was constructed out of balsa and foam and utilized the COX .01 TEE-DEE. Control was
provided by an aileron/elevator system mounted below the wing and a rudder on a vertical
tail above the wing.58
Figure 8: Univ. of Notre Dame MAV.
Brigham Young University has been involved with the MAV competition for a number
of years now, and their concept has been different. They have chosen to increase the wing
area without increasing their largest dimension by making a biplane. The two wings double
the surface area without affecting the maximum dimension of the aircraft. Another
technique that was employed by the Brigham Young team was to bring multiple planes to
the competition. Some of these planes were much larger than others. The idea behind this
was that the large plane could be flown to guarantee a qualification for ranking, and once
that was done, they would attempt to make their smaller planes fly for the necessary two
minutes to qualify.59
Arizona State University has also been involved with the competition for a number of
years. Their design featured a simple swept, flying wing design. It also uses the COX .01
TEE-DEE engine for thrust. The control surfaces are at the trailing edge of the wing, and it
uses an aileron system for turning.60
The 2001 MAV from Worcester Polytechnic Institute placed 4th in the 2001
competition. Their plane was constructed out of a carved block of polystyrene. The electric
propulsion system, control system, and payload were stored in a rectangular fuselage
below the wing. The team also used a folding propeller to gain an advantage on its
37
maximum dimension. The rules have since been changed to stipulate that the largest
dimension is measured in the flight condition.61 There are some similarities in many of
these aircraft. Almost all of the designs use the COX .01 TEE-DEE engine. Almost all of
the designs also use a leading edge that is swept back from the propeller, which allows for
Table 1: Historical Data of MAV Competition (Ref. 55)
a slightly more efficient thrust from the engine or motor. Table 1 contains some of the
important values of a few MAVs that have been flown in the recent past.
C. MAV Design Experience

A survey of successfully flown MAVs in the past 10 years by Hwang et al.24 indicated
that the values of 2 main design parameters; namely wing loading and power loading could
be summarized in table 2.
Table 2: Wing loading W/S and power loading Cvt (Ref. 24)
Long ago these two parameters were used by remotely controlled aircraft designers as a
starting point for base line configurations.62 The design procedure follows that outlined by
major aircraft design text books such as Raymer63 and Roscam.64
The procedure starts by defining the MAV system shown in Figure 9. The mission is
defined first then aircraft requirements and the design constraints are defined based on the
mission. A figure of merit method is then used to decide on the type of the vehicle to be
considered, i.e. fixed, flapping or rotary wing. The choice could be based on the relation
38
between the mission profile and factors such as: Structure complexity, maximum
dimension, flight controls, failure rate, high and low speed flight, hover duration,
controlled flight modes, maneuvers, and degrees of freedom.65
Figure 9: An overview of the MAV system configuration (Ref. 33)
Fig. 10: Typical MAV baseline design procedure (Ref. 23)
39
The typical baseline design procedure follows the steps depicted in Figure 10. The
process outlined by Torres & Mueller23 could be modified for fixed wing MAVs to better
reflect the clear dependency of the design on both wing loading and aspect ratio.66 An
optimization process is to follow based on the classical construction of the design carpet
using a suitable aircraft viability or customer satisfaction measure.66 In many cases the
ratio endurance/wing span or endurance/(wing span)3 seems quite reasonable.55
Once the design phase has reached its target, a prototyping phase must follow. This
phase is not limited to the accurate production of metallic and composite structural
components. It does include design and fabrication (and/or acquisition) of systems,
propulsion, control, preprogrammed missions as well as payload. Prototyping requires
accurate CAD/CAM systems and metrological equipments for quality inspection
The final phase of the process is the Testing-Evaluation and Development phase. In
this phase the prototype performance is to be measured and evaluated in order to assist and
ameliorate the design. Take off and landing performance, endurance, mission execution,
and maneuver capabilities of the vehicle are to be assisted. Airborne as well as ground
data acquisition equipments are necessary in this phase.
D. State-of-the-Art MAV configuration

The Black Widow26-27 is the current state-of-the-art MAV and is an important
benchmark. It is the product of 4 years of research by AeroVironment and DARPA. The
Black Widow has a 6-inch wingspan and weighs roughly 56 grams. The plane has a flight
Table 3: Design characteristics of the black Widow
range of 1.8 kilometers, a flight endurance time of 30 minutes, and a max altitude of 769
feet. The plane carries a surveillance camera. In addition it utilizes computer controlled
systems to ease control. The Black Widow is made out of foam; individual pieces were cut
using a hot wire mechanism with a CNC machine allowing for greater accuracy. The
design characteristic of the black widow is given in Table 3 while the multi-piece
construction and the final design can be seen in Figure 11.
40
Figure 11: Black Widow MAV (Refs. 26 &27)
V. Future Trends in MAV’s Design

Many of the problems facing MAV’s are attributed to their design approach. Most of
today fixed wing MAV’s designs were guided by theories and design methods originally
developed for larger aircrafts. This approach has greatly limited the performance of
MAV’s.16 Steady-state aerodynamic principles for generating lift and thrust become
inefficient at low Re. Future MAV’s design methodology is expected to move toward
mimicking insect flight where very high lift and high maneuverability are generated with
unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms and lightweight adaptive wings (figure 12).
Figure 12: unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms governing the generation of lift in

insects and small birds. (Ref. 16)
Nevertheless, it is also recognized that other significant technical barriers must be

overcome before MAV systems can be efficiently realized. These include issues in small
scale power generation and power storage, navigation, and communication, as well as
41
propulsion and control. In addition, accurate small scale metallic as well as composite
manufacturability, surface finishing and metrology are considerable realization challenges.
Manufacturing accuracy of these test models is essential to insure the reliability of the
obtained data. CNC milling as well as fine surface finishing techniques are considered as a
must.
References
1
Mueller T. J., editor, Fixed and Flapping Wing Aerodynamics for Micro Air Vehicles, AIAA
Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 195, 2001.
2
Mueller, T. J., and DeLaurier, J. D., “An Overview of Micro Air Vehicle Aerodynamics,” Progress
in Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 195, pp. 1-9, 2001.
3
Torres, G.E., and Mueller, T.J., “Low-Aspect-Ratio Wing Aerodynamics at Low Reynolds
Numbers,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 42, No. 5, May 2004.
4
Mueller, T. J., “Aerodynamic Measurements at Low Reynolds Numbers for Fixed Wing Micro-Air
Vehicles,” RTO AVT/VKI Special Course on Development and Operation of UAVs for Military and
Civil Applications. Sept. 13-17, 1999,VKI, Belgium.
5
Kunz, P., and Kroo, I., “Analysis and Design of Airfoils for Use at Ultra-Low Reynolds Numbers”
Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics, Vol. 195, pp. 35-60, 2001.
6
Null, W. and Shkarayev, S., “Effect of Camber on the Aerodynamics of Adaptive-Wing
Micro Air Vehicles,” Journal Of Aircraft, Vol. 42, No. 6, November–December 2005
7
Boughton, S. E., Attari,, T., and Kozak, J., “Comparison and Validation of Micro Air Vehicle
Design Methods,” AIAA Paper 2004-0406, 2004.
8
Gyllhem, D., Mohseni, K., Lawrence, D., and Geuzaine, P., “Numerical Simulation of Flow
Around the Colorado Micro Aerial Vehicle,” AIAA Paper 2005-4757, 2005.
9
Monttinen, J. “Computational Study of The effect of Winglets on The Performance of Micro-
Aerial Vehicles,” Ph.D. Dissertation , Arizona State Univeristy, 2004
10
Gad-el-Hak, “Flow Control: The Future,” Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 402–418, 2001.
11
DeLuca, A. M., Reeder, M. F., OL, M. V., Freeman, J., Bautista, I., and Simonich, M.,
“Experimental Investigation into the Aerodynamic Properties of a Flexible and Rigid Wing Micro
Air Vehicle,” AIAA Paper 2004-2396, 2004.
12
Waszak, M. R., and Jenkins, L. N., “Stability and Control Properties of an Aeroelasitc Fixed Wing
Micro Aerial Vehicle," AIAA Paper 2001-4005, 2001.
13
Lian, Y., Shyy, W., Viieru, D., Zhang, B., “Membrane wing aerodynamics for micro air
vehicles” Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol.39 pp. 425–465, 2003
14
Viieru, D., Albertani, R., Shyy, W., and Ifju, P. G.,”Effect of Tip Vortex on Wing
Aerodynamics of Micro Air Vehicles,” AIAA Paper 2004-4971, 2004.
15
Kim J., Rusak, Z., and Koratka N., “Improving Aerodynamic Efficiency of Small-Scale Airfoils By
Surface Temperature and Heat Transfer,” AIAA paper 2003-3925, 2003.
16
Pines, D. J., and Bohorquez, F., “Challenges Facing Future Micro-Air-Vehicle Development,”
Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 43, No. 2, March–April 2006.
17
Hanff, E. S., “PIV Application in Advanced Low Reynolds Number Facility,” IEEE Transaction
on Aerospace and Electronics Systems, Vol. 40, No. 1, January 2004
18
Sun, Q, Boyd, I. D., and Candler, G. V., “Numerical Simulation of Gas Flow Over Micro-Scale
Airfoils,” AIAA Paper 2001-3071, 2001.
19
Mohseni, K., Lawrence, D., Gyllhem, D., Culbreth, M., and Geuzaine, P., “Flow Simulation
Around a Micro Air Vehicle in a Plume Characterization Scenario,” AIAA Paper 2004-6598, 2004.
42
20
Ettinger, S., Nechyba, M. C., Ifuju, P. G., and Waszak, M., “Vision-guided flight stability and
control for micro air Vehicles,” Advanced Robotics, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 617–640, 2003.
21
Lian, Y., Shyy, W., Viieru, D., and Zhang, B, “Membrane wing aerodynamics for micro air
vehicles,” Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Vol. 39, pp. 425–465, 2003.
22
Peterson, B., Erath, B., Henry, K., Lyon, M., Walker, B., Powell, N., Fowkes, K., and Bowman,
W. J., “Development of a Micro Air Vehicle for Maximum Endurance and Minimum Size,” AIAA
Paper 2003-416, 2003
23
Torres, G. and Mueller T.J., "Micro Aerial Vehicle Development: Design, Components,
Fabrication, and Flight- Testing," The University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN,
http://www.nd.edu/~mav/auvsi/torres.htm [Last visited: May 20, 2006]
24
Hwang, H.C., Chung, D.K., Yoon, K.J., Park, H.C., Lee, Y.J., and Kang, T.S., “Design and Flight
Test of a Fixed Wing MAV,” AIAA Paper 2002-3413, 2002.
25
Null, W., Wagner, M., Shkarayev, S., Jouse, W., and Brock, K., “Utilizing Adaptive Wing
Technology in the Control of a Micro Air Vehicle,” Smart Structures and Materials 2002: Industrial
and Commercial Applications of Smart Structures Technologies, Anna-Maria R. McGowan, Editor,
Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4698, 2002.
26
Keennon, M.T., and Grasmeyer, J. M., “Development of the Black Widow and Microbat MAVs
and a Vision of the Future of MAV Design,” AIAA Paper 2003-2901, 2003.
27
Grasmeyer, J. M. and Keennon, M.T.," Development of the Black Widow Micro Air Vehicle,"
AIAA Paper No. 2001-0127, 2001.
28
Hundley, R.O., and Gritton, E.C., "Future Technology-Driven Revolutions in Military Operations,"
RAND Corporation, Document No. DB-110-DARPA, 1994.
29
Davis, W.R., "Micro UAV," Presentation to 23rd AUVSI Symposium, July 15-19, 1996.
30
Ashley, S., “Palm-size spy planes,” ASME J. Mech. Eng., vol. 120, no. 2, pp. 74–78, 1998.
http://www.memagazine.org/backissues/february98/features/palmsize/ palmsize.html [last
visited May 20, 2006]
31
Pornsin-Sirirak, T.N., Tai, Y.C., Ho, C.M., and Keennon, M. "Microbat: A Palm-Sized Electrically
Powered Ornithopter," Proceedings of NASA/JPL Workshop on Biomorphic Robotics, 2001,
http://ho.seas.ucla.edu/publications/2001/jpl10_2001.pdf. [Last visited May 20, 2006].
32
Keennon, M.T. and Grasmeyer, J. M. "Development of the Black Widow and Microbat MAVs
and a Vision of the Future of MAV Design," AIAA Paper No. 2003-2901, 2003.
33
Wu, H., Sun, D. and Zhou, Z. " Micro Air Vehicle: Configuration, Analysis, Fabrication, and
Test," IEEE/ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, VOL. 9, NO. 1, MARCH 2004.
34
Thomas, J. P., Qidwai, M. A., Matic, P., Everrett, R. K., Gozdz, A. S., Culver, D. Keennon, M. T.,
and Grasmeyer, J. M., “Composite materials with multifunctional structure-power capabilities,” in
Proc. American Soc. Composites 16th Technical Conf, Blacksburg, VA, Sept. 9–12, 2001
35
M. Gad-el-Hak, “Micro-air-vehicles: Can they be controlled better?,” Journal of Aircraft, vol. 38,
no. 3, pp. 419–429, 2001.
36
Greek, D., “Prototype for a micro air vehicle,” Prof. Eng., vol. 12, no. 11, p. 26, 1999.
37
Gomes, L., “It’s a bird! It’s a spy plane!—Pentagon funds research into robin-sized robots,” Wall
Street J., vol. 6, Apr. 1, 1999.
38
Kellogg, J. et al., “The NRL micro tactical expendable (MITE) air vehicle,” Aeronaut. J., vol. 106,
no. 1062, pp. 431–441, 2002.
39
Ramamurti, R., and Sandberg, W., “Simulation of the dynamics of micro air vehicles,” AIAA
Paper 2000-0896, 2000.
40
Ailinger, K. “Micro air vehicle (MAV) development at NRL,” in Proc. AUVSI, Baltimore, MD,
June 3–6, 1997, pp. 624–626.
43
41
Ifju, P. G. , Jenkins, D. A., Ettinger, S., Lian, Y., Shyy, W., and Waszak, M. R., “Flexible-wing-
based micro air vehicles,” AIAA Paper 2002-0705, 2002.
42
Ifju, P. G. , Jenkins, D. A., and Martinez, L., “Composite materials for micro air vehicles,” in Proc.
46th Int. SAMPE Symp. Exhib., vol. 46/2, Long Beach, CA, May 6–10, 2001, pp. 1926–1937.
43
Symetrics’ micro aerial vehicle (MAV) Big hit at Paris air show, “Is it a plane, a bird?” Available
Online: http://www.symetrics.com/whatsnew/whatsnew.htm
44
Morris, S. and Holden, M., “Design of micro air vehicles and flight test validation,” in Proc. Fixed,
Flapping and Rotary Wing Vehicles at Very Low Reynolds Numbers, 2000, pp. 153–176.
45
Michelson, R. C., and Reece, S., “Update on flapping wing micro air vehicle research,” in Proc.
13th Bristol Int. RPV Conf., Bristol, U.K., Mar.– Apr. 1998.
46
Hollingum, J., “Military look to flying insect robots,” Ind. Robot., vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 124–128,
1998.
47
Patel, C., Arya, H., and Sudhakar, K., “Design, Build & fly a solar powered aircraft,” Indian Inst.
Technol., Mumbai, India, Available Online: http://www.casde.iitb.ac.in/IMSL/solar/solar-
AeSI-AGM.pdf [Last visited May 20, 2006].
48
Pornsin-sirirak, T. N., Tai, Y.-C., Nassef, H., and Ho, C.-M., “Titaniumalloy MEMS wing
technology for a micro aerial vehicle application,” Sens. Actuat. A, Phys., vol. 89, pp. 95–103, Mar.
1–2, 2001.
49
Pornsin-sirirak, T. N., Nassef, H., Grasmeyer, J., Tai, Y.-C., and Ho, C.-M., “MEMS wing
technology for a battery-powered ornithopter,” in Proc IEEE 13th Annual Int. Conf. Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems, Japan, Jan. 23–27, 2000, pp. 799–804.
50
Pornsin-sirirak, T. N., Tai, Y.-C., Ho, C.-M., and Keennon, M., "Microbat: A palm-sized
electrically powered ornithopter” Available Online:
http://touch.caltech.edu/home/publications/2001/jpl/jpl2001.pdf [Last visited May 20, 2006]
51
Fearing, R. S., Chiang, K. H., Dickinson, M. H., Pick, D. L., Sitti, M., and Yan, J., “Wing
transmission for a micromechanical flying insect,” in Proc IEEE Int. Conf. Robot Automat., vol. 2,
2000, pp. 1509–1516.
52
Yan, J., Wood, R., Avadhanula, S., Sitti, M., and Fearing, R. S., “Toward flapping wing control
for a micromechanical flying insect,” in Proc IEEE Int. Conf. Robotics and Automation, vol. 4,
Seoul, Korea, 2001, pp. 3901–3908.
53
Koo, T. J., and Sastry, S., “Output tracking control design of a helicopter model based on
approximate linearization,” in Proc. 37th IEEE Conf Decision Control, Tampa, FL, Dec. 1998, pp.
3635–3640.
54
Shim, H., Koo, T. J., and Sastry, S., “A comprehensive study of control design for an autonomous
helicopter,” in Proc. 37th IEEE Conf. Decision Control, Tampa, FL, Dec. 1998, pp. 3653–3658.
55
Barnhart, F., Cuipa, M., Stefanik, D., and Swick Z., "Micro-Aerial Vehicle Design with Low
Reynolds Number Airfoils," 7 March 2004. ” Available Online:
http://francisbarnhart.com/projects/mav/MAV_Report.pdf [Last visited May 20, 2006].
56
Culbreth, M., Mihok, B., Russell, S. and Stewart, B., "CMAV: Fall Final Report," ASEN 4018 Fall
2003” Available Online: http://www.colorado.edu/ASEN/SrProjects/Archive/2003-
04/ReportFall/CMAV.pdf. [Last visited May 20, 2006]
57
University of Florida MAV Site, Last Modified: 17 Dec 99, Available Online:
http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~issmo/mav/mav.htm [Last visited May 20, 2006]
58
Notre Dame Micro Aerial Vehicle Development Group, Available Online:
http://www.nd.edu/~mav/ [Last visited May 20, 2006]
59
BYU MAV Site, Available Online: http://www.me.byu.edu/mav/ [Last visited May 20, 2006]
60
Arizona State University MAV Competition 2000, Available Online:
http://www.eas.asu.edu/~uav/main.html [Last Visited May 2006]
44
61
Blondin, S. M., DeBarros, I., Falcone, M., Henry, D., McWilliams, K., Seney, S., and Wong, J.,
"Design of Micro-Aerial Vehicle," WPI MQP, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2001.
62
Lennon, A., the Basics of R/C Model Aircraft Design, Air Age. Inc, USA, 1996.
63
Raymer, D.P., “Aircraft Design: a Conceptual Approach,” 3rd edition, AIAA Publications, 1999.
64
Roscam J., Airplane Design, Published by DARcorporation, Lawrence, KS, Part I-VII, 1985-
1990.
65
Brock, K., "Development of an Autonomous Robotic Aerial Vehicle," The University of Arizona,
Tucson, AZ Available Online: http://engr.arizona.edu/~rav [Last visited May 20, 2006]
66
Al-Ghamdi, K., Al-Zahrani, Y., Al-Zahrani, S. and Al-Bahi, A., "Preliminary Design of a Micro
Aerial Vehicle," SSAS UAV Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2006.
45

054-Micro Aerial Vehicles Design Challenges State of The Art Review

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

054-Micro Aerial Vehicles Design Challenges State of The Art Review

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Micro Aerial Vehicles Design Challenges:

State of The Art Review

Ibraheem M. Al-Qadi* and Ali M. Al-Bahi†

The potentials of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAV’s) have generated

II. MAV’s Aerodynamic Challenges

Figure 1: Variation of CL/CD with Re. (Ref. 1)

Figure 2: Effect of Aspect Ratio on lift coefficient. (Ref. 3)

III. Agility and Controllability Issues

Figure 5: Fully- Autonomous MAV surveillance system. (Ref. 20)

IV. Design Procedures Systematization

Figure 6: Microbat Design.

Figure 7: Univ. of Florida flexible wing design.

Figure 8: Univ. of Notre Dame MAV.

Table 1: Historical Data of MAV Competition (Ref. 55)

C. MAV Design Experience

Figure 9: An overview of the MAV system configuration (Ref. 33)

Fig. 10: Typical MAV baseline design procedure (Ref. 23)

D. State-of-the-Art MAV configuration

Table 3: Design characteristics of the black Widow

V. Future Trends in MAV’s Design

Figure 12: unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms governing the generation of lift in

Nevertheless, it is also recognized that other significant technical barriers must be

Potrebbero piacerti anche