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Return To Aviation Article Archive   Search the Article Archives Aerodynamic Changes Need To Be Made In MAVs; Micro Air Autonomous Vehicles By Lance Winslow Aerodynamic changes need to be made in MAVs. Micro-Air Autonomous vehicles. The simple current DARPA version is okay I suppose, but we need much smaller units and we can add in a few components to make them simpler, increase performance and payloads. I propose that we create a couple of other versions; one would be similar in nature to the picture above. However the body would be a tube, like the exoskeleton of an insect, which can be fat like a bee, thin like a dragon fly or any similar shape in between. The wings would be cellophane and clear similar to the much larger, giant UAVs. The MAV I propose would be under 20 cm in length. It would have centerline thrust like a Cessna Skymaster. The propellers would be in front and back and could change direction, the MAV during this time would most likely want to flip of and roll, but so the wings need to be symmetrical. As it flipped over the trailing edge of the wings interior would be made of a small heavy tube, which would also contain the ion battery material. It would be thinner than the wings spar tube which would be larger and therefore cause proper curvature of the leading edge for maximum lift. The wing would still look similar to that of figure six in this report: http://wtsun.eas.asu.edu/publications/reas_paper-2003.pdf We could of course also make the wing spar of a substance that would compress under pressure and the leading edge at high speeds would have much less curvature and could go extremely fast with a different set of motors? When the aircraft shifted directions the tubes would trade sides and the aircraft would start flying backwards as the propellers switched directions in flight cause the aircraft to reverse and fly exactly back wards. As the wings did a roll, it would also now be flying upside down. This is good for surveillance because you could take pictures of the below on the way in and the above on the way out. For instance flying into a cave, hull of a ship, building, duct, tunnel, etc. The optic flow sensors would now be exactly opposite and they autonomous device would continue to fly out the way it came in. The simplicity is also good in that the tiny motors would be hooked to a tiny crankshaft, which could be made out of micro-material. Also if the MAV crashed into something or got swatted out of the sky, it could still fly on the remaining engine going in one direction, so the mission is not lost. Propulsion should be considered. The second prototype I am calling for would be similar in that it would also have a centerline thrust, only this one would have a vertical fin as a fuselage. The wings would be shaped like a dragon fly and would have one wing heavier than the other. For instance the top wing, which would have be on a slider along with the bottom wing. As the aircraft went forward the top wing would move backwards so the configuration would be similar to a Stagger Wing Beechcraft. Then when the motors spun opposite the heavier wing would slide backwards causing the aircraft to resume in the other direction in this model the aircraft would stay right side up. And fly away exactly the direction it came. The optic flow sensors could be on the wing that was forward the bottom wing, which always stays stationary and fixed to the aircraft. Thus pointing forward and down so the optical flow sensors and/or sonar sensors would be in the proper place. About the Author: By Lance Winslow Aircraft Carrier

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