become more prominent in the UAV world during the last two decades, such as quadcopter, automatic flight control systems, new payloads, and the various levels of autonomy that may be given to an air vehicle. It also revises a number of details that have clearly been overtaken by events, and all chapters have been brought up to date to introduce some of the new terminology, concepts, and specific UAV systems that have appeared over the last 12 years. However, the basic subsystems that make up a UAV “system of systems” have not greatly changed, and at the level that this text addresses them, the basic issues and design principles have not changed since the first edition was published.
The first two authors – sadly, now deceased ‐ met while participating in a “red team” that was attempting to diagnose and solve serious problems in an early UAV program. The eventual diagnosis was that there had been far too little “systems engineering” during the design process and that various subsystems did not work together as required for system‐level success. This book grew out of a desire to write down at least some of the “lessons learned” during that experience and make them available to those who design UAV systems in the future.
Supplementary materials, including answers to end‐of‐chapter questions, are available for registered instructors who adopt this book as a course text. Please visit www.wiley.com/go/fahlstrom/uavsystems5e for information and to register for access to these resources.
We believe that most of those lessons learned are universal enough that they are just as applicable today as they were when they were learned years ago, and hope that this book can help future UAV system designers apply them and avoid having to learn them again the “hard way.”
Mohammad Hashem Sadraey
September 2021
The Kettering Bug (Photograph courtesy of Norman C. “Dutch” Heilman)
Series Preface
This book is a welcome addition to the Aerospace Series, continuing the tradition of the Series in providing clear and practical advice to practitioners in the field of aerospace. This book will appeal to a wide readership and is an especially good introduction to the subject by extending the range of titles on the topic of unmanned air vehicles, and more importantly presenting a systems viewpoint of unmanned air systems. This is important as the range of vehicles currently available provides a diverse range of capabilities with differing structural designs, propulsions systems, payloads, ground systems, and launch/recovery mechanisms. It is difficult to see any rationalization or standardization of vehicles or support environment in the range of available solutions.
The book covers the history of unmanned flight and describes the range of solutions available world‐wide. It then addresses the key aspects of the subsystems such as structure, propulsion, navigation, sensor payloads, launch and recovery, and associated ground systems in a readable and precise manner, pulling them together as elements of a total integrated system. In this way it is complementary to other systems books in the Series.
It is important for engineers and designers to visualize the totality of a system in order to gain an understanding of all that is involved in designing new vehicles or in writing new requirements to arrive at a coherent design of vehicle and infrastructure. Even more important if the new vehicle needs to interact and inter‐operate with other vehicles or to operate from different facilities.
If unmanned air systems are going to become accepted in civilian airspace and in commercial applications then it is vital that a set of standards and design guidelines is in place to ensure consistency, to aid the certification process, and to provide a global infrastructure similar to that existing for today’s manned fleets. Without that understanding, certification of unmanned air vehicles to operate in civilian controlled airspace is going to be a long and arduous task.
This book sets the standard for a definitive work on the subject of unmanned air systems by providing a measure of consistency and a clear understanding of the topic.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Engineering Arresting System Corporation (ESCO) (Aston, PA), Division of Zodiac Aerospace and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., for providing pictures and diagrams and/or other information relating to their air vehicles and equipment.
The Joint UAV Program Office (Patuxent River Naval Air Station, MD) and the US Army Aviation and Missile Command (Huntsville, AL) both provided general information during the preparation of the first edition.
We especially thank Mr. Robert Veazey, who provided the original drafts of the material on launch and recovery while an employee of ESCO, and Mr. Tom Murley, formerly of Lear Astronics, and Mr. Bob Sherman for their critical reading of the draft and constructive suggestions.
Great appreciation goes to Mrs. Lauren Poplawski, Acquisitions Editor for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Wiley, who suggested the third author to prepare the Fifth Edition, and provided him with guidance through the preparation of the manuscript. We are also thankful for Kimberly Monroe‐Hill, Managing Editor and Gabby Robles, Associate Managing Editor, who provided some helpful information when the manuscript for this new edition was sculpted. The authors are also very grateful to Copy Editor Mrs. Patricia Bateson for her careful reading of the manuscript for the Fifth Edition and for many helpful suggestions related to style and grammar. People at Wiley were very patient with us throughout the process of working out the details of how that might be accomplished.
List of Acronyms
ACalternating current, aerodynamic centerADCanalog‐to‐digital converterADTair data terminalAFCSautomatic flight control systemsAGLabove ground levelAhampere‐hoursAIartificial intelligenceAJanti jamAOAangle of attackARaspect ratioARMantiradiation munitionAVair vehicleBDbi‐directionalBITbuilt‐in testBVLOSbeyond visual line of sightBLOSbeyond line of sightC2command and controlCARScommon automatic recovery systemCBRchemical, biological, radiologicalCCDcharge‐coupled deviceCFDcomputational fluid dynamicsCGcenter of gravityCLRScentral launch and recovery sectionCPcenter of pressureCPUcentral processing unitCOMINTcommunication intelligenceCWcontinuous waveDAAdetect and avoidDACdigital‐to‐analog converterdBdecibeldBAdBs relative to the lowest pressure difference that is audible to a persondBmvdBs relative to 1 mVdBsmdB relative to 1 m2DCdirect currentDFdirection findingDOFdegrees of freedomECCMelectronic counter‐countermeasuresECMelectronic countermeasureELINTelectronic intelligenceEMIelectromagnetic interferenceEOelectro opticERPeffective radiated powerESMelectronic support measureeVTOLelectric vertical take‐off and landingEWelectronic warfareFAAFederal Aviation AdministrationFARFederal Aviation RegulationsFCSforward control sectionFEMfinite element methodFLIRforward‐looking infraredFLOTForward Line of Own TroopsFOVfield of viewfpsframes per secondFPVfirst‐person viewFSEDFull Scale Engineering DevelopmentGCSground control stationGDTground data terminalGHzgiga hertzGNCGuidance‐Navigation‐ControlGPSglobal positioning systemGSEground support equipmentGyrogyroscopeHALEhigh‐altitude, long enduranceHELLFIREhelicopter launched fire and forget missileHEROHazards of Electromagnetic Radiation to OrdnanceHMMWVHigh Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled VehicleHPhydraulic‐pneumaticHTOLhorizontal takeoff and landingIAIIsraeli Aircraft IndustriesICintegrated circuitIFFidentification friend or foeIMCImage Motion CompensationiOSiPhone operating systemIRinfraredISRIntelligence, Surveillance, ReconnaissanceISOInternational Organization for StandardizationJATOJet Assisted Take‐OffJIIJoint Integration InterfaceJPEGJoint Photographic Experts GroupJPOjoint project officeJSTARSJoint Surveillance Target Attack Radar SystemKEkinetic energyLANlocal area networkLi‐ionlithium ionLi‐polylithium polymerLOSline of sightLPIlow‐probability of interceptLQRlinear quadratic regulatormAhmilli
