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Show 24 Matt Ball college of engineering Recent advancements in small UAV technology have led to an increase of their use for such tasks as military reconnaissance, remote measurement of airborne pollutants, fundamental atmospheric research, search and rescue, monitoring the forest fires, border patrol, homeland security, and weather prediction, among others. One major limitation of small UAVs is the lack of adequate flight endurance necessary to carry out practical missions, which may require 2-4 hours of continuous flying. Improvements in wing de-sign and propulsion deficiency can augment the aerodynamic performance of small UAVs, thereby increas-ing their sustainability and hence, their overall usefulness as a mobile sensor platform. Surprisingly little testing has been done at the low Reynolds numbers which the UAVs fly. Improving wing design begins by understanding the lift and drag characteristics of the UAV as a function of cruising speed. Drag data from actual flights in the field will be presented and compared to existing wind tunnel measurements. In addi-tion, propeller thrust as a function of power consumption will be presented. These results will be discussed in the context of estimating the overall performance efficiency of the UAV. AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE OF SMALL UNMANNED ARIAL VEHICLES (UAV) Matt Ball (Meredith Metzger) Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Meredith Metzger Procerus unicorn package with the autopilot used to collect field data. SolidWorks model of the wing mounted in the windtunnel. |
