Transforming UAV Design: Coandă-Based Lift Generation for Enhanced Aerial Performance

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have grown in popularity in a variety of fields in recent years, and they serve a variety of functions. Such technologies have the capability of entering risky or inaccessible locations and acquiring crucial data without putting humans in danger. A UAV must overcome numerous obstacles to complete a task. As a result, unique platforms have been developed that deviate from traditional aircraft design to improve their capabilities. The majority of UAVs are built to use one of the two propulsion methods below. Some of them feature a design of a fixed wing similar to that of a typical airplane. To take off and land, they need a runway and they do not possess any hovering capabilities. Others use rotors in the same way that helicopters do, resulting in a better-hovering capability. This is significant because the ability to do vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) is critical for UAVs. Nonetheless, their range is severely limited, as the vehicles are reliant on the amount of gasoline or the onboard energy accumulators. The introduction of a novel design is what we can consider which provides lift and maneuverable force more efficiently. A UAV that exploits the Coandă Effect to help propulsion is a good example of this sort of aircraft. The Coandă Effect refers to a fluid jet's tendency to remain attached to a curved surface. Romanian inventor Henri Coandă was the first person to notice the practical applicability of the phenomena in aircraft design. Although few works have been previously performed on the aspects of the Coandă Effect being used in a UAV, this paper seeks to contribute to experimenting with a certain prototype, focusing on stability and attitude control of the UAV. The prototype of the Coandă UAV resulted in performing balanced hovering in mid-flight with acceptable fluctuations in roll and pitching moments as it was controlled by a Pixhawk flight controller which was configured by custom ArduPilot firmware.