Development of Small Electric Fixed-Wing VTOL UAV

Abstract

During last years, along with development of electric propulsion systems, developments of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are pushed strongly. The main benefits of this concept of UAV over standard helicopters are mechanical simplicity, decoupled dynamics and cheaper manufacturing, especially in small dimensions. On the other side, multi-rotor vehicles are less efficiency than fixed-wing vehicles, especially for long-distance flight. The traditional fixedwing UAVs can fly for long distances, but they require runways for take-off and landing. By combining vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities of multi-rotor vehicles and energy efficient long-distance flight of fixed wing vehicles, new type of UAVs is involved: VTOL UAV. This paper presents development of small electric powered fixed-wing VTOL UAV. This aircraft is the part of the project of large hybrid VTOL UAV by company EDePro and it is intended to be technology demonstration model and platform for testing VTOL and transition capabilities as well as autopilot and other systems and subsystems development.