Development of a Novel Water Landing UAV with Deflatable Floater

A novel design of amphibious UAV with a swimming-ring shaped floater that can inflate before landing and deflate after taking off is presented. An air pump system is developed to control the floater and is integrated in the whole flight control system. The mechanism of such system is discussed, while simulations in MATLAB and Simulink carried out for a UAV with simple missions and trajectories are shown. Results illustrate the feasibility of using the proposed design within the remit of water landing UAVs.