Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis Hybrid Unmanned Aerial Vehicle with C-Wing
S. Praveena, Prthik Nandhan Karthikeyan, N. Srirangarajalu, M.K. Karthik · 2023
This chapter intends to aid the world of Internet of Drones by increasing the flight time of the UAV systems via modifying the winglet. This modification was done in a hybrid VTOL UAV to counteract the issues like lower cruise speed, the requirement of the runway, lower endurance, lower range, and poor payload capacity associated with ordinary rotary and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This research proposes the design, simulation, and development of a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle with C-winglet. The hybrid system has the characteristics of both rotary-wing and fixed-wing UAVs by accommodating four actuators for hovering and one actuator for forward movement. In order to perform the hybrid operation for stabilized take-off and flying, the design was modified to optimize the aerodynamic characteristics. The modified design was finalized by simulating the model in a numerical computational platform. Further, it was extended to analyze the same in virtual simulation and control platforms by adding appropriate motor and control. Then the proposed model was stabilized in the virtual platform by arriving at an appropriate virtual control system. Further, the finalized design was fabricated in real time, and the test run was conducted and verified for take-off, flying, and landing operations. The results indicate that the hybrid system outperforms the conventional rotary-wing UAV in terms of endurance and range by imparting the wing with a C-winglet.