Design of Solar Powered High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Biplanes: A preliminary study - Softcover

Cipolla, Vittorio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3847302353 ISBN 13: 9783847302353

Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2011

Synopsis

In the last few years, the interest regarding solar powered aircraft has increased significantly and, in particular, the attention has been focused on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), able to perform High Altitude and Long Endurance (HALE) missions for telecommunication, remote sensing, surveillance and control, both for civil and military applications. The present book shows the results of a research about Solar Powered Biplanes (SPBs), dealing with the definition of a design methodology and the introduction of new design tools for this kind of aircraft. The potential benefits of choosing a biplane architecture are explained and mission requirements are introduced in order to define two types of mission, conceived to perform the two main tasks of such kind of UAVs: Telecommunication (TLC) and Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance (IRS) operations. The design procedure is illustrated and a method for the preliminary aircraft sizing, based on design curves, is proposed. The optimization method adopted for the UAV design is presented, together with the models used to study aerodynamics, flight mechanics, energy balance, structures and propulsion systems.

About this title

About the Author

Vittorio Cipolla is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of Pisa University (Italy), where he achieved the BSc, MSc and PhD degrees. His research activities concern the study of box-wing configurations for manned and unmanned aircraft.

Edition details

• Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3847302353
• ISBN 13: 9783847302353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320