Preliminary Design and Simulation of Mini-UAV for Surveillance and Reconnaissance Mission

Author

Chandrika, Chethan A.K, Harshitha. N, Harshit Devadas Bhandekar

Abstract

 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are widely used for surveillance and reconnaissance due to their ability to perform aerial observation and monitoring. This paper presents the preliminary design and simulation framework of a mini fixed-wing UAV intended for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. The initial phase involved identifying mission requirements, selecting a suitable aircraft configuration, and studying preliminary design parameters and weight estimation. In the subsequent phase, the flight simulation environment was configured using FlightGear and NALSim. The three-dimensional geometry of the proposed UAV was developed using OpenVSP, and aerodynamic analysis was carried out using VSPAERO to obtain lift, drag, and pitching moment coefficients at different angles of attack. The extracted aerodynamic data were organized for integration into an initial JSBSim flight dynamics model, identified as Garud.xml. Standard aircraft models in FlightGear were also studied to understand flight controls and basic simulation procedures. This work establishes a preliminary framework for integrating the proposed UAV geometry and aerodynamic characteristics into a flight simulation environment. Further model validation, flight performance analysis, and experimental testing are required to evaluate the overall performance of the proposed UAV design..                                         

Keywords

Mini UAV, Fixed-Wing UAV, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, OpenVSP, VSPAERO, FlightGear, JSBSim, Flight Dynamics..

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References

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