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Weight and performance methodology of an UAV at cruise condition for precision agriculture

Abstract:

During the last decade UAVs have contributed to a fast pace of innovation in different areas such as agriculture and transport. The aircraft design process for this platforms presents less constrains, since they are unmanned systems, and usually require less investment than other aviation sectors. Those aspects require a versatile, and good enough method for preliminary design to define UAV weight and performance. In this context, the present work defines a parametric methodology, which couples several aircraft design tools to assess the performance of UAVs for precision agriculture. Modules developed have been focused on weight, aerodynamic and mission performance. Parametric tools given in the open domain have been adapted and refined for UAVs ranging from Small to High Altitude Long Endurance, where the use of common aircraft design codes fail to capture trends in their performance. Results from the sensitivity analysis of the weight modules showed that geometric and aerodynamic variables are useful to reduce the takeoff weight, and to improve the performance for UAV.