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Long Range Autonomous Aerial Delivery Systems

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The goal of this project is to design and analyze autonomous aerial delivery vehicle concepts with terrestrial launch and/or aerial deployment capabilities as well as increased range and accuracy compared to the state of the art. Since World War II, the United States Army has used aerial delivery methods to transport necessary supplies such as medical kits, food, fuel, and ammunition to soldiers in remote battlefronts. Current precision aerial delivery systems (PADS) are dominated by thrustless parafoils deployed from a manned transport aircraft. However, the horizontal range of these PADS are limited, due to which the manned transport aircraft is required to fly close to the delivery destination. This situation is undesirable due to the risks posed to the transport aircraft pilots. The outcomes of this project will enable the development of a long-range PADS that can avoid putting the transport aircraft pilots at risk. The design requirements considered in this project are of a PADS that can launch from the ground, carry 100-200 kg of cargo to destinations 200-500 km away, and then return to either the launch location or a secondary location at a comparable distance. The final location of the supply drop must be less than 100m from the desired location. After launch, the system must be capable of autonomous guidance to the destination. In this project report, the state-of-the-art is first reviewed. Next, to narrow down potential design options, a design space exploration is conducted using both low and medium fidelity computational models and simulations developed using MATLAB and XFLR5. Based on the outcomes of this initial analysis, three designs are selected for further research and development: a fixed-wing aircraft, a hang-glider, and a parawing. Through several sizing iterations and calculations, computer-aided design (CAD) assemblies are created using SOLIDWORKS for all three designs. The CAD models include ribbing in both the wing and fuselage as well as mounting points, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, and control surfaces. This allows for building a 1-10 scale model of the hang-glider, and high-fidelity simulation and analysis of the parawing and fixed-wing designs. Computational fluid dynamics simulations are developed using Fluent to analyze the aerodynamic properties of the parawing and fixed-wing designs. The purpose of these simulations is to determine the stability and control derivatives as well as lift and drag coefficients at different angles of attack. Ansys simulations are developed to measure stress and displacement of the wing and wing mounting under the conditions of lift, drag, thrust, and gravity, and to analyze the structural integrity of the same two designs. Additional analysis involves measuring stresses on the aircraft bodies for various trim states and legs of flight via a symmetrical half plane model. To simulate the flight of the fixed-wing and parawing designs, trajectories are generated for different phases of flight (i.e., climb, cruise, etc). These trajectories are used to find trim conditions that lead to linearized flight dynamical models. Linear quadratic regulator (LQR) autopilot controllers are designed to control airspeed, altitude, climb angle, and heading angle, thereby enabling trajectory tracking. The closed-loop responses of the aircraft under autopilot control are tested using MATLAB and Simulink. Finally, the hang-glider CAD model is physically assembled using a foam-carbon composite in an effort to minimize both mass and cost. This is a 1-10 scale model that preserves payload weight fractions and total lifting force of the aircraft. The hang-glider is controlled via onboard electronics and radio control. Small scale testing will be completed to analyze performance characteristics for various phases of flight. With the completion of the previously outlined simulation, small scale testing and analysis, this project will demonstrate and rank three separate concepts for long-range autonomous aerial delivery. This study indicates that a parawing design is the better choice for scenarios where the goal is to minimize monetary cost and a fixed wing design is the better choice when the goal is to minimize time. Parawings weigh less and are easier to manufacture, and as a result they consume less fuel than a fixed wing but take a significantly longer time to reach their destination during flight. A fixed wing aircraft is faster, but weighs more, thus using more fuel. Additionally, fixed-wing aircraft are also more costly to manufacture.

  • This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.
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Identifier
  • E-project-050421-200517
  • 22056
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Year
  • 2021
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Date created
  • 2021-05-04
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