22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-1.3.1

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW ALTITUDE UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE

A. F. Accardo, F. Ricci, P. Basso
University of Naples “FEDERICO II”, Italy

Keywords: uav

The activities concerning the development of an advanced composite, low altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for civilian applications are presented. The project is co-ordinated by the Dipartimento di Progettazione Aeronautica (DPA) of the University of Naples Federico II and involves also others departments and research centres1. The multidisciplinary aspects of the project are pointed out: experimental aerodynamics, utilisation of composite material on airplane structures, technologies related to the navigation, remote and/or autonomous control, data links and storage, sensors utilisation for the mission requirements. The development of the present UAV has been first considered as a research platform for the activities related to the above mentioned aspects, mainly to enhance skill in composite airframe design and fabrication. Furthermore the growth of interest towards the unmanned vehicles has induced to enable the UAV in civilian applications, such as surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

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