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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Scaling Flight Tests Of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Jeevani I. Abeygoonewardene Sep 2006

Scaling Flight Tests Of Unmanned Air Vehicles, Jeevani I. Abeygoonewardene

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing technological advances and research interest in unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), have led to the need for having safe, inexpensive and effective means of experimenting with their fight performance and surveillance capabilities. Work has previously been done in areas of controlling, analyzing, and predicting cooperative and autonomous operations of UAVs and other vehicles. In addition, there are well established guidelines for scaling experiments in fluid mechanics, where geometric, kinematic and dynamic similarity is obtained by formulating problems in terms of non dimensional variables using dimensional analysis. However, little or no work has been done in developing experiments or guidelines for …


Performance Analysis Of A Cooperative Search Algorithm For Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Under Limited Communication Conditions, Kevin M. Morris Mar 2006

Performance Analysis Of A Cooperative Search Algorithm For Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Under Limited Communication Conditions, Kevin M. Morris

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the impacts of realistic wireless communications upon a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) utilizing a distributed search algorithm. The UAVs are used to survey an area for mobile targets and they require communication to cooperatively locate the targets. The mobile targets do not continually radiate energy, which exacerbates the search effort; a UAV could fly directly over a target and not detect it. A simulation of cooperative UAVs is implemented using the OPNET Modeler network simulation tool. The search performance of a group of UAVs is observed when communication range, data rate, and the number of …


Development Of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform: Modeling, Simulating, And Flight Testing, Nidal M. Jodeh Mar 2006

Development Of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform: Modeling, Simulating, And Flight Testing, Nidal M. Jodeh

Theses and Dissertations

The Advanced Navigation Technology (ANT) Center at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) conducts extensive research in advanced guidance, navigation, and control to exploit the full potential of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). The research in this thesis describes a UAV research platform developed to support the ANT Center's goals. This platform is now the bedrock for UAV simulation and local flight test at AFIT. The research has three major components. The first component is development of a physical, inertial, and aerodynamic model representing an existing aircraft. A systematic analysis of the airframe leads to a complete geometric, inertial, …


Experimental Analysis Of Propeller Interactions With A Flexible Wing Micro-Air-Vehicle, Brian J. Gamble Mar 2006

Experimental Analysis Of Propeller Interactions With A Flexible Wing Micro-Air-Vehicle, Brian J. Gamble

Theses and Dissertations

An investigation into the effects of the propeller slipstream on a flexible wing micro-air-vehicle (MAV) was conducted. The Air Force Research Lab, Munitions Directorate designed a man-portable MAV with a 24 in. wingspan and 6 in. root chord to be used for battle damage assessment and reconnaissance. Two wings have been developed for this MAV. One is a rigid carbon-fiber wing and the other consists of flexible parachute material attached to a carbon-fiber skeleton. Experimental methods were implemented to investigate propeller and wing interactions, characterizing torque and thrust requirements on the motor along with aerodynamic forces on the aircraft as …