Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

Design Considerations of a Prototype VTOL Robotic Vehicle through Market Survey Data Collection

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A detailed technical design and performance comparison of current unmanned Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles is presented as a function of vehicle maximum speed, payload, range, endurance, and propulsion configurations. Mission applications and VTOL market characteristics are used to define design specifications for a new prototype unmanned VTOL vehicle suitable for a wide range of (mostly) civilian applications. The proposed VTOL vehicle's design phase is presented, including: performance capabilities calculation, fuselage strength evaluation and weight optimization via crash/drop tests. Drop tests performed have followed standard regulations used for airworthiness certification of such vehicles. The proposed VTOL vehicle is currently under prototype development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  1. Adams, V., Askenazi, A.: Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis. Onword, USA (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Civil Aviation Safety Authority Australia: Design standards: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles-Rotorcraft (2000)

  3. Coleman, P.C.: A Survey of Theoretical and Experimental Coaxial Rotor Aerodynamic Research, NASA Technical Paper 3675 (1997)

  4. Davis, J.R.: Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys. ASM International, USA (1993)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Doitsidis, L., Valavanis, K.P., Tsourveloudis, N., Kontitsis, M.: A framework for fuzzy logic based UAV navigation and control. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp. 4041–4046. New Orleans, USA (2004)

  6. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Design Criteria, Advisory Circular (DRAFT)

  7. Seddon, J.: Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics. BSP Professional Books, Oxford (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kontitsis, M., Tsourveloudis, N., Valavanis, V.: A UAV vision system for airborne surveillance. In: Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), vol. 1, pp 78–83 (2004)

  9. McCormick, B.W.: Aerodynamics Aeronautics And Flight Mechanics. Wiley and Sons, New York (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Murthy Sreekanta, T., Kvaternik, R.G.: Experiences at Langley Research Center in the Application of Optimization Techniques to Helicopter Airframes for Vibration Reduction, NASA Technical Memorandum 104193 (1991)

  11. NATO Committee for European Airspace Coordination: Guidance For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Operations, Design Specification, Maintenance and Training of Human Resources, Annex to NATO Document AC/92-D/967

  12. Prouty, R.W.: Helicopter Performance Stability, and Control. Krieger, Florida (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Spanoudakis, P., Doitsidis, L., Tsourveloudis, N.C., Valavanis, K.P.: Vertical take-off and landing vehicle market overview. Unmanned Systems Magazine 21(5):14–18 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Spanoudakis, P.: Design of a new vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle, Master Thesis, Department of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete (2003)

  15. Stepniewski, W.Z., Keys, C.N.: Rotary-Wing Aerodynamics. Dover, New York (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  16. U.S. Department of Defence: Metallic Materials and Elements for Aerospace Vehicle Structures, Military Standard MIL-HDBK-5J (2003)

  17. U.S. Department of Transportation-Federal Aviation Administration: Certification of Normal Category Rotorcraft, Advisory Circular 27-1B (1999)

  18. Unmanned Vehicles Handbook 2002, The Shepard Press Publications (2002)

  19. Van Blyenburgh, P.: UAVs: an overview. Air Space Eur. 1(5/6), 43–47 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Production Engineering and Management, Intelligent Systems and Robotics Laboratory, Technical University of Crete, Chania, 73100, Greece

    P. S. Spanoudakis & N. C. Tsourveloudis

  2. Department of CSEE, Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    K. P. Valavanis

Authors
  1. P. S. Spanoudakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. N. C. Tsourveloudis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. K. P. Valavanis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. C. Tsourveloudis.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Spanoudakis, P.S., Tsourveloudis, N.C. & Valavanis, K.P. Design Considerations of a Prototype VTOL Robotic Vehicle through Market Survey Data Collection. J Intell Robot Syst 46, 339–364 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-006-9057-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-006-9057-1

Key words