systemMARTMini Avion de Reconnaissance TelepilotMbpsmega bits per secondMDOmultidisciplinary design optimizationMEMSMicro‐Eectro‐Mechanical SystemMETmeteorologicalMICNSModular Integrated Communication and Navigation SystemMPCSmission planning and control stationMRCminimum resolvable contrastMRDTminimum resolvable delta in temperatureMRTminimum resolvable temperatureMSLmean sea levelMTFmodulation transfer functionMTIMoving Target IndicatorNACANational Advisory Committee for AeronauticsNASNational Airspace SystemNASANational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNDInon‐developmental itemNiCdnickel cadmiumNiMHnickel metal hydridenmnautical mileNOAANational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNPneutral pointOBCoptical bar cameraOSDon‐screen displayOSIOpen System InterconnectionOToperational testPGMprecision guided munitionPICPilot In CommandPIDProportional, Integral, DerivativePINpositive intrinsic negativePLSSPrecision Location and Strike SystemQFTquantitative feedback theoryRAMradar‐absorbing materialRAPradar‐absorbing paintRATOrocket‐assisted takeoffRC Planeradio‐controlled airplane, remotely controlled airplaneR&DResearch and DevelopmentRCSradar cross‐sectionRFradio frequencyRGTremote ground terminalRMSroot mean squareROCrate of climbRPGrocket propelled grenadeRPMrevolutions per minuteRPAremotely piloted aircraftRPVremotely piloted vehicleSARsynthetic aperture radarSEADSuppression of Enemy Air DefenseSFsafety factorshpshaft horsepowerSIGINTsignal intelligenceSLARside‐looking airborne radarSOTASStand‐Off Target Acquisition SystemSPARSShip Pioneer Arresting SystemsUASsmall unmanned aircraft systemsTADARSTarget Acquisition/Designation and Aerial Reconnaissance SystemTUAVtactical UAVUAMUrban Air MobilityUASunmanned aerial systemUAVunmanned aerial vehicleUCAVunmanned combat aerial vehicleUDunidirectionalVLOSvisual line‐of‐sightVTOLvertical takeoff and landing
About the Companion Website
This book is accompanied by a companion website:
https://www.wiley.com/go/fahlstrom/uavsystems5e
The website includes:
Solutions manual
Part I Introduction
Part One provides a general background for an introduction to the technology of unmanned aerial vehicle systems, called “UAV systems” or “unmanned aerial systems” (UAS). This part is comprised of two chapters, 1 and 2.
Chapter 1 presents a brief history of UAVs. It then identifies and describes the functions of the major elements (subsystems) that may be present in a generic UAS. Finally, it provides a short history of a major UAV development program that failed to produce a fielded UAS, despite significant success in many of the individual subsystems, and teaches useful lessons about the importance of understanding the inter‐relationship and interactions of the subsystems of the UAS and the implications of system performance requirements at a total‐systems level. This story is told here to emphasize the importance of the word “system” in the terms “UAV System” and “UAS.”
Chapter 2 contains a survey of UAS that have been or presently are in use and discusses various schemes that are used to classify UAV systems according to their size, endurance, and/or mission. The information in this chapter is subject to becoming dated because the technology of many of the subsystems of a UAS is evolving rapidly as they become more and more part of the mainstream after many years of being on the fringes of the aeronautical engineering world. Nonetheless, some feeling for the wide variety of UAS concepts and types is needed to put the later discussion of design and system integration issues into context. Currently about 100 countries are employing military drones.
1 History and Overview
1.1 Overview
The first portion of the chapter reviews the history of UAV systems from the earliest and crudest “flying objects” through the events of the last decade, which has been a momentous period for UAV systems.
The second portion of the chapter describes the subsystems that comprise a complete UAV system configuration to provide a framework for the subsequent treatment of the various individual technologies that contribute to a complete UAS. The air vehicle itself is a complicated system including structures, aerodynamic elements (wings and control surfaces), propulsion systems, and control systems. The complete system includes, in addition, sensors and other payloads, communication packages, and launch and recovery subsystems.
Finally, a cautionary tale is presented to illustrate why it is important to consider the UAV system as a whole rather than to concentrate only on individual components and subsystems. This is the story of a UAS that was developed between about 1975 and 1985 and that may be the most ambitious attempt at completeness, from a system standpoint, that has so far been undertaken in the UAS community.
It included every key UAS element in a totally self‐contained form, all designed from scratch to work together as a portable system that required no local infrastructure beyond a relatively small open field in which a catapult launcher and a net recovery system could be located. This system, called the Aquila remotely piloted vehicle (RPV) system, was developed and tested over a period of about a decade at a cost that approached a billion dollars. It eventually could meet most of its operational requirements.
The Aquila UAS turned out to be very expensive and required a large convoy of 5‐ton trucks for transportation. Most importantly, it did not fully meet some unrealistic expectations that had been built up over the decade during which it was being developed. It was never put in production or fielded. Nonetheless, it remains the only UAS of which the authors are aware that attempted to be complete unto itself and it is worth understanding what that ambition implied and how it drove costs and complexity in a way that eventually led the system to be abandoned in favor of less complete, self‐sufficient, and capable UAV systems that cost less and required less ground support equipment.
1.2 History
1.2.1 Early History
Throughout their history, UAV systems have tended to be driven by military applications, as is true of many areas of technology, with civilian applications tending to follow once the development and testing had been accomplished in the military arena.
One could say that the first UAV was a stone thrown by a caveman in prehistoric times or perhaps a Chinese rocket launched in the thirteenth century. These “vehicles” had little or no control and essentially followed a ballistic trajectory. If we restrict ourselves to vehicles that generate aerodynamic lift and/or have a modicum of control, the kite would probably fit the definition of the first UAV.
In 1883, an Englishman named Douglas Archibald attached an anemometer to the line of a kite and measured wind velocity at altitudes up to 1,200 ft. Mr. Archibald attached cameras to kites in 1887, providing one of the world’s first reconnaissance UAVs. William Eddy took hundreds of photographs from kites during the Spanish–American war, which may have been one of the first uses of UAVs in combat.
It was not until World War I, however, that UAVs became recognized systems. Charles Kettering (of General Motors fame) developed a biplane UAV for the Army Signal Corps. It took about 3 years to develop and was called the Kettering
