AERO4490 Advanced Aircraft Design


2003 Project Description
Read the Essential Background Documents:
  1. Paper: "UAVs in an Australian maritime environment"

    2. by Lt Cdr Marc Ware, Seahawk Observer, Royal Australian Navy, presented at UV2002 Conference.
  2. PPT Presentation by Lt Cdr Marc Ware at the French-Australian Advanced Workshop on Multidisciplinary-Methods and Numerical Tools for UAV Design Applications (UAV-MMNT03), 14 July 2003.

Project Document area (Password Required)

Useful Links

AERO4490 ADVANCED AIRCRAFT DESIGN 4 Credit Points

Classes:
one 3hr design class per week in Aero Comp Lab.  Classes shall be in the form of formal design meetings and work sessions, with occasional lectures and tutorials.

Assessment:
Design Project Reports

Objectives/Outcomes:
To develop an  understanding of the application of design to the modern aerospace industry.  Students will gain an overview of how to manage a project and its associated design team and will also gain skills in setting design specifications and carrying out detailed design analysis.

References:
As per the list given in AERO4400 Aircraft Design 3.

Year 2003 PROJECT:

NOTE: The following information is from the 2002 project.  The 2003 Project will be similar to this, with emphasis on the SLC (Sonabuoy Launch Container) launched mini-UAV System.

Please read the background documents.  Detail 2003 Project documents will be posted soon.

Students will be required to work in groups but with a predefined area of responsibility (eg. Aerodynamics, structural analysis, performance, stability and control, production, cost and marketing, etc.) to be decided at the first design meeting in Week 2. Design meetings will be held every week at 2pm in the Aero Tut Room. Assessment will be based on the final design report for your allocated task, with ongoing assessments during the design meetings.

More details will be available as the project(s) progress(es).

Modular Multi-Role Multi-Platform Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) System:

Your task is to form a design team to design and develop this Modular and sub-deployable UAV Airframe system, which includes (but not exclusive of other components as deemed necessary as project progresses) the following tasks: ASSESSMENT As a guide, the course objectives are to: Task Summary must include aspects of the following: Note that cost considerations was not listed above, but please be aware that cost is a key driving factor for this particular project - so it should be reflected in all aspects. Likewise, marketing is not there because there isn't enough time to conduct a market survey etc - we'll leave that to someone else - but obviously the final "product" - system of modules should be versatile enough to be marketable to a broad range of applications. Proposals and reports can seem a waste of time, but it is very important these days to become good at producing such documents - particularly "executive summaries" of these documents.


AERO4490 ADVANCED AIRCRAFT DESIGN                     4 Credit Points

Specifications <31 July 2002>

There is an ongoing requirement for small UAV platforms suitable for a wide range of potential commercial or military applications. This type of flight platforms is especially in demand by organisations or groups wishing to explore or investigate new market sectors or wishing to try out the use of UAVs in their specific market sector. Developing new airframes for each of these clients would incur prohibitively high costs. Adapting existing airframes to these applications often come with severe operational or performance penalties. There is also a rapidly increasing interest in applications using low-cost mini/micro Air Vehicles (mAVs or mAVs). One potential mode of deployment of these miniature flight platform systems is to air launch them from larger UAVs. Hence there is a desire to develop a baseline flight platform system which can be integrated with the launcher-UAVs, and vice versa.

There is thus a requirement to develop a multi-platform modular UAV airframe system such that the major components are interchangeable to suit a broad range of potential applications, with deployable miniature sub-platforms. Your task is to form a design team to design and develop this unique UAV system.

Task this year is, therefore, the airframe system design of a 30-150 kg AUW-range (manageable-sizes but challenge is to accommodate the very broad weight-range with common modules) multi-role modular UAV. Each student will be allocated design responsibility for one or more modules of this airframe. A baseline idea for the airframe concept will be outlined, leaving you to work on details. Assessment will be based on individual work, but definite expectations will be there for class-wide interactions because of interface issues. Each student will be looking after every aspect of his/her module, including aspects of aircraft performance (cf. generic baseline), aerodynamics, structures, tooling, manufacture, impact on control and stability, module interchangeability, module versatility, and anything else that is relevant to that module. Various student numbers can be accommodated because there has to be different wing modules, for example, for differences in requirements for general short-range surveillance and high altitude, long endurance/range roles. Likewise there may be multiple propulsion-modules, tail/canard-modules, and fuselage-modules.

The baseline "launcher" airframe is one which has an AUW of 30kg, being capable of 1 hour endurance and a payload of 7 kg. The airframe configuration of this modular UAV is to reflect the possibility of being able to fly over the full range of weights - from empty to max-payload, without ballast.

The "payload" is to be a combination of mission sensors, with the deployable miniature flight platforms forming an essential part of this unique system. The deployable platforms would be considered to be "disposable" items, so the lowest possible unit cost is essential. These sub-platforms are required to carry at least a daylight/IR sensor, with some form of relative position between it/them and the launcher UAV being available during the mission while deployed. Other details and specifications will be decided upon during the course of the project, as the issue of feasibility using COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) technologies is to be evaluated.

All components designed and developed are to be modelled in SolidWorks. Assembly of modules have to be demonstrated using SolidWorks. If progress goes well, there is every opportunity to build and test some of the modules.

Some useful internet references:

Background

Ideas Airframe and Components Miscellaneous Tools:

Project 2001

Updated: 21 July 2003
Copyright: School of Aerospace, Mecahnical and Mechatronic Engineering, 2003.