21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-3.7.3

A TOOLSET FOR THE DESIGN OF AUTONOMOUS UAV SYSTEMS

Valentinis F., Belton W. A, Kneen J, Bil C.
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia

Keywords: toolset, design, autonomous, uav, systems

Designers face many unique challenges in the development of autonomous UAV systems, many of which are not catered for using conventional aircraft design methodologies and tools. This paper presents a toolset, called "Wackett Aerospace Centre Uav Design Toolset" (WACUT), which provides the UAV designer with a means to evaluate and optimise a UAV system design. The toolset provides an indication of the impact of changing one of a full range of system variables from aircraft configuration and geometry through to autonomous control structure. It has proven invaluable in the design phase of an autonomous UAV system currently under development by the Sir Lawrence Wackett Aerospace Centre, with support from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The proposed flight vehicle system is being targeted specifically to atmospheric research applications.

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