Optimal Design of a High-altitude Solar-Powered Unmanned Airplane

Authors

  • Bento Silva de Mattos Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo
  • Ney Rafael Secco Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo
  • Eduardo Francisco Salles Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo

Keywords:

Airplane design, Solar energy, Multi-disciplinary design and optimization, Airpalne stability and control

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5028/jatm.v5i3.223

This paper describes a multi-disciplinary design and optimization framework tailored for the conceptual development of high-altitude solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles. The aircraft baseline configuration that the framework is able to handle is very similar to that of Zephyr, which is developed by the UK based company QinetiQ. The disciplines of aerodynamics, structures, stability, weight, and systems were considered and integrated into a modeFrontier® workflow, capable of providing a relatively simple sizing, but highly realistic airplane.


Author Biographies

Bento Silva de Mattos, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo

Head of ITA's aircraft design department

Ney Rafael Secco, Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo

Instructor at Aeronautical Engeneering Division of ITA

Eduardo Francisco Salles, Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica (ITA) Sao Jose dos Campos - Sao Paulo

graduate student at ITA

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Published

2013-08-27

Issue

Section

Original Papers