Lecture 1 :Introduction to

UAVs
Prepared by
Ass. Prof. Ali H. Wheeb
[email protected]

10/7/2024 Ass. Prof. Ali H. Wheeb 1

 Introduction to UAVs
• Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also commonly known as drones,
are aircraft piloted by remote control or embedded computer
programs without a human on-board.
• Thanks to the advancement of UAVs’ manufacturing technologies and
their reducing cost, making them more easily accessible to the public
• UAVs were mainly used in military applications deployed in hostile
territory for remote surveillance and armed attack, to reduce pilot
losses.
• In recent years, enthusiasm for using UAVs in civilian and commercial
applications such as search and rescue, healthcare, package delivery,
photography, precision agriculture, traffic control, and
telecommunications etc.

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 UAV Application

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 UAVs Operational Rules
• In June 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released
operational rules for routine civilian use of small unmanned aircraft
systems (UAVs) with aircraft weight less than 55 pounds (25 kg).
• In November 2017, the FAA further launched a national program, namely
the “Drone Integration Pilot Program,” to explore the expanded use of
UAVs, including beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLoS) flights, night-time
operations, and flights above people.

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UAV visual-line-of-sight (VLoS)

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 Introduction to UAV Classification
• Aviation have already proposed various classifications for the different kinds of
UAVs. One may classify UAVs by vehicle system, sizes, mission range, altitude,
etc.
• Each kind of classification is a way to point out a particular feature, but is
doomed to hide another important aspect of UAVs.
• For example classification based on system
• High altitude long endurance (HALE) UAVs with altitude more than
9100 m and indefinite range.
• Medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAVs with an altitude of
less than 9100 m and range less than 200 km.
• mini- and micro-UAVs that can fly at altitudes of less than 600 m
and have a range of less than 2 km.
• vertical take-off and landing (VTOL)

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Vertical Take-off And Landing (VTOL)

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 Introduction to UAV Types and Mission
• Main drawback of traditional classification they don’t consider the mission.
• A more appropriate way to classify the different kinds of possible UAVs
would be a double-entry matrix to combine typical mission profiles and the
major vehicle configurations.
• Mission profiles may include:
1. Recognition missions (outdoor/indoor) requiring VTOL capabilities.
2. Surveillance missions (close range/long range) requiring long
endurance Capabilities.
3. Other specific missions such as delivering goods, monitoring special
facilities ,some tactical missions in the military domain requiring
covertness and robust transmission.
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 1. Fixed-wing UAVs
• Fixed-wing UAVs may typically
range from micro-sized UAVs, also
called micro air vehicles (MAVs),
up to UAVs almost larger than any
existing conventional aircraft.
• smaller fixed-wing MAVs may be
designed, such as the 10-cm span
flexible-wing MAV developed by
Professor Peter from the University
of Florida in 2005

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 1. Fixed-wing UAVs
• the Boeing “SolarEagle” is supposed to
be a “satellite-drone” which can fly
virtually 24/7 thanks to its solar cells
covering the upper part of its wings and
the very stringent constraints on the
airframe fabrication to make it as light as
possible.
• solar-cell UAVs may be more appropriate
at smaller sizes since a greater portion of
the power needed to supply the motor
may be obtained from the sun as
compared to larger aircraft.

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 1. Fixed-wing UAVs
• a 50cm-span fixed-wing covered with thin
flexible solar cells, called Solar-Storm, has
been designed and fabricated in order to
extend the endurance of an existing
version entirely powered with standard
batteries.
• On sunny days, the Solar Storm was able
to extract up to 45% of the total power
needed to fly.
• From a practical point of view, it should
be noted that such small solar-powered
vehicles do not require a battery charger
which needs to be plugged into some
electrical source
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 1. Fixed-wing UAVs
• Disadvantage
fixed-wing UAVs intrinsically suffer from difficulty to hover

• Advantage
Fixed-wing remain very good candidates for long-range or long-
endurance surveillance missions as compared to rotary-wing UAV

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 2. Flapping-wing UAVs
• From the very beginning of aviation, some authors have argued that
engineers should get inspiration from existing flying animals birds or insects.

• The idea underlying such a view being that animals have been gradually
optimized over the centuries.

• Fascinating examples of small and large flying animals include various

species ranging from the fairyfly, the smallest known flying insect at only
0.15mm long (0.0059in.), up to the famous pteranodon, a flying dinosaur
with up to 7m wing span .

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 2. Flapping-wing UAVs

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 2. Flapping-wing UAVs
• Disadvantage
1. Understanding the aerodynamics of flapping wings is still, to a large
extent, an open question due to the intrinsic flow field complexity
and the unsteadiness involved
2. It has not yet been clearly established whether flapping flight is
actually more efficient than rotary-wing systems,
• Advantage
1. In the long run, flapping-wing UAVs might become very useful in
specific recognition missions requiring covertness because of their
ability to mimic birds or insects and to easily disappear from the
human sight.

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 3.Rotary-wing UAVs
• Rotary-wing UAVs have attracted a good deal of attention from the
scientific community.
• first reason for this attention is related to the fact that rotary-wing
configurations provide the capability of hovering, which is essential to
guarantee clear identification.
• Hovering is also a way to easily take off and land without a complex
procedure, such as a prepared airfield or a specific landing device.
• Furthermore, multi-rotors are easy to fabricate and fairly straightforward to
fly indoors.

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 3.Rotary-wing UAVs
• As quad-rotors were almost the only
multi-rotors available 10 years ago, more
recent multi-rotor aircraft now include
hexa-rotors, octo-rotors, and various
combinations of coaxial multi-rotors.
• increasing the number of rotors is
generally considered to be a good way to
enhance security since if a motor fails, the
other motors can immediately
compensate.

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 3.Rotary-wing UAVs
• coaxial rotor allows for altitude hold
and control around the vertical axis.
A recent example of a portable
coaxial UAV has been given by the
Sprite, a 1.2kg coaxial drone
equipped with a two-axis gimballed
camera.
• The rotorcraft can fly up to 10–12
minutes and can easily be
backpacked after folding the blades

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 3.Rotary-wing UAVs
• Disadvantage
1. It should be mentioned that coaxial rotors suffer from a loss in
propulsion efficiency due to the fact that the lower rotor is blown by the
propeller slipstream produced by the upper rotor instead of being blown
by a uniform freestream flow.
2. Because of apparent rotating parts, rotorcraft may have difficulty coping
with obstacles. Consequently, rotorcraft UAVs are often equipped with a
crash proof outer structure, which protects the rotors.
Advantage
1. Rotary-wing UAV adopted in several military and civilian application
2. Rotary-wing UAV is lightness , flexibility, non cost, and easy deploy.

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