Conceptual design of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle

A conceptual design of a medium size unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is reported in the present study. This study is part of a bigger research investigating into the ability of an advanced UAV to autonomously traverse over an aircraft and accurately detect locations of defects on the aircraft skin to assist in further investigation of subsurface defects utilizing thermal and ultrasound techniques. The aim of the research study is to minimize the inspection time of a commercial aircraft to the order of an hour. This paper focusses on the aerodynamics and structural design of a UAV capable of carrying the weights of optical, thermal and ultrasound cameras as required. The design requirements include the ability of the UAV to traverse the aircraft outer skin autonomously sending both its GPS location and captured images to a secure data drive within the vicinity of the aircraft hangar and the ability to wirelessly charge its battery and thereby improve its hovering duration, i.e., its endurance. To achieve the preliminary design, the aerodynamic coefficients are estimated using computational fluid dynamics analysis, as well as smart design of fan shrouds to minimize the vortex shedding and hence improve its overall efficiency.