Advanced UAV Aerodynamics, Flight Stability and Control

Series Preface

From their early, cautious entry into the field of aviation many years ago, unmanned vehicles are now almost ubiquitous in many applications from domestic, industrial, government/official and military. The range of configurations now includes fixed wing, multi‐rotorcraft, adaptive wing, and space re‐entry vehicles, in both remotely piloted and autonomous modes of operation. As a result there are many classes of unmanned vehicle in existence, and many types within each class, developed by many manufacturers. They are all capable of carrying some form of payload, including sensors, and of relaying sensor information to the ground. Despite these advances there is still much to be learned; like conventional manned aircraft the range of applications and the demand for improved performance will continue to grow.

This book addresses aspects of aerodynamic design, stability and control, adaptive control, modelling and wind tunnel testing of vehicles for the range of unmanned aerial types available and introduces many novel concepts. The techniques introduced are valuable, not only for the design of vehicle itself, but also as the basis of control law design for remote and autonomous flight control systems in order to achieve high integrity and safe operation. The application of the techniques described will provide an important basis for the gathering of evidence to support certification of such vehicles.

The Aerospace Series has continued to provide practical, topical ...