Aerodynamics and Flight Control Design for Hovering MUAVs

Aurora Flight Sciences, with expertise in designing and manufacturing low Reynolds number high-altitude aircraft, proposes to develop new aerodynamics computational tools and flight control solutions to enable the development of 15cm and smaller hovering micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAV)s. The objective of this project is to validate the analytical approach, and refine the proposed MUAV design by proof-of-concept experiments and demonstrations. The Phase I project will result in the development of an aerodynamically efficient hovering MAUV, augmented by a passive stabilization control scheme, to exhibit functional hovering and control performance to accommodate the integration of miniaturized electronic subcomponents in Phase II.