Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation of UAVs: Conceptual Design of a MATLAB-Based Framework

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been utilised as critical tools in a wide range application from military to civilian purposes. Designing UAVs involves interactions between various subsystems such as aerodynamics, structures and propulsion. In order to tackle the complexity of such interactions, a multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) approach can then be used to achieve an optimisation of the entire UAV system. This paper presents a conceptual design of a MDO framework for UAVs developed in MATLAB. The proposed framework integrates various disciplines enhancing the ability to conduct comprehensive multidisciplinary design analysis. A key feature of this framework is the use of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) which establishes the organisation and management of all data and processes. As for the case studies, a simple example was applied to demonstrate the reliability of the proposed methodology. The second example case was a more complex scenario focusing on the optimal design of a battery-powered Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) UAV using low-fidelity models. The results from these case studies showed that the proposed MDO architecture performed well and provided valuable insights into UAV design optimisation.