Specific aspects in the preliminary design process for small Rotorcraft UAVs

This paper presents some specific aspects in the preliminary design of small Rotorcraft UAVs (RUAVs). The work was carried out by Agusta, the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) and University of Bologna within the 5th framework European program CAPECON (Civil UAV APplications & Economic Effectivity of Potential CONfiguration Solutions). Part of this program was the development of a small Rotorcraft UAV (RUAV) configuration. The work was structured in a series of logical phases starting from the customers’ needs (applications) to the preliminary design of a system that addresses these needs. Mainly, four aspects of small RUAVs were studied. First, the applications for which a small RUAV is technically and economically viable were identified and multi-role mission requirements as well as the configuration were defined. Secondly, safety requirements were analysed and possible technological solutions for risk mitigation evaluated, especially for ground impact and midair collision risks. The third aspect addressed was the preliminary design of the selected small RUAV configuration. The fourth and last aspect studied was the preliminary assessment of the vehicle’s stability characteristics and its ability to perform station-keeping as a sensor platform.