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UNMANNED ARIEL VEHICLE FINAL COPY

4/9/2009 BRIGHT UCHENNA OPARAJI FIONA WILLANS 200645828 ESSAY WORDS: 2174 WORDS BIBILIOGRAPHY: 206 WORDS TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS: 90 WORDS 1)	Introduction…………………………………………………………...3 2)	Overview of consideration when designing a UAV………………,…3 2.1) Access to airspace……………………………………………………..3 2.2) Sufficient payload……………………………………………………..3 2.3) Simplified……………………………………………………………...4 3)  Uses……………………………………………………………………4 3.1) Military sector…………………………………………………………4 3.2) Civilian sector…………………………………………………………4 4)   Problems……………………………………………………………....5 4.1) Explosive take-off…………………………………………………….5 4.2) Size and limited space………………………………………………...5 4.3) Mishap rate……………………………………………………………5 ……………………………………………………………………………..6 Figure 1……………………………………………………………………7 5) Limitations……………………………………………………………..8 5.1) Expensive……………………………………………………………..8 5.2) Educated……………………………………………………………....8 5.3) Failure of the aviation industry……………………………………….8 6)  Future applications of UAV technology………………………………8 6.1) Civilian application………………………………………………….9 6.2) Military application………………………………………………….9 6.3) More preferred………………………………………………………9 7)  Conclusion…………………………………………………………...10 8)  Bibliography…………………………………………………………10 ……………………………………………………………………………11

An overview of the considerations that must be taken into account during the design of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), identifying the current uses of the vehicles, along with their problems and limitations and discussing the potential future applications of UAV technology. 1) INTRODUCTION An unmanned ariel vehicle (UAV) is a vehicle that can be used for various air navigational purposes. A UAV can be self piloted or controlled externally through a remote control and also carries payload equipments such as cameras, sensors and communication equipments (Aftergood 2008). It goes to places which would be considered dangerous for human beings to go. For example in the Middle East presently, US military forces use spy UAV’s to monitor the ongoing act of terrorism (Marks 2009). This essay will argue how UAVs have failed in the world presently and the ways the application of the technology behind UAVs can be helpful to mankind in the future. The outline of this essay will be as follows: Firstly, the overview of the considerations that a UAV designer must consider when designing a UAV.Secondly, the present use of the vehicle in the world today will be mentioned. After that, the problems and limitations will also be mentioned and finally, the potential application of UAV technology will be discussed in details. 2) OVERVIEW OF CONSIDERATIONS WHEN DESIGNING A UAV 2.1) ACCESS TO AIR SPACE:- Industries that design UAVs should have various considerations in mind when designing a UAV. Easy communication with other regular aircrafts should be a key factor in mind. This is a very important issue in the aviation in industry because UAVs are to have equal assess to airspace like any other civil aircraft (Marks 2006). In order to achieve this goal, a safe, standardized collision avoidance system needs to be developed by the UAV manufacturers (Ibid). 2.2) SUFFICIENT PAYLOAD:- Moreover, the creation of a sufficient payload lifting capacity should be every UAV manufacturer goal in mind (Shim, Han, & Yeo 2008). Every UAV requires a system for altitude control onboard, a crop dusting sequence and device fully automatic for agricultural purposes such as spraying of paddy rice fields (Ibid). Spraying of the field by the UAV helicopter can be very helpful in the productivity of crop because it is much faster than when it is done manually and reduces crop pests. Systems for emergency landing should also be taken into consideration because there can be a sudden loss of communication between the UAV and the ground controller (Ibid). 2.3) SIMPLIFIED:- In addition, the design and entire structure of a UAV should be made in an easy way as possible to understand (Ibid) i.e. it shouldn’t be complicated with a lot of buttons, so that an average man can be able to understand and operate it without the help of any highly skilled person or any book manual. This is a very important key factor in the UAV market because customers tend to purchase UAVs that are easier to control, more reliable and perform methods that are superior to other kinds of UAVs so that the extra cost that they spend will be fully justified (Shim et al 2008). An example of a helicopter that is made easy to control is the draganflyer X6 UAV helicopter. This helicopter UAV operates on 11 sensors and lines of codes that help stabilizes it during a flight. It is the known best UAV helicopter of its class because of its design, style and easy operation (Draganflyer innovations Inc. 2009). 3) USES 3.1) MILITARY SECTOR:- In the military sector, rapid deployed UAVs (RDUAV) and air launched rapid deployment UAVs (AL-RDUAV) are used for combat purposes (Chen 2008). These UAVs are more reliable than other types of UAVs in the military aspect (Ibid). They have a wide operation range of speed for various kinds of military missions such as; endurance run for a small speed, high subsonic speed for high-speed air target acquisition, high subsonic speed for large observation area, high subsonic speed for high-risk area and high survival rate, and a high subsonic speed against adverse weather (Ibid). The U.S military uses this kind of UAV for anti-terror mission and serious emergency call in the Middle East because of the high efficiency of the UAV (Marks 2009). 3.2) CIVILIAN SECTOR:- According to (Shim et al 2008), civilian UAVs are mainly used for reporting the situation of traffic, monitoring of disaster, and ariel photography. The civilian Yamaha RMAX has already been successful in some parts of Asia that mainly grow rice (Shim et al 2008) & (Marks 2006). A spraying device is fixed under the fuselage of the UAV for spraying crops (Shim et al 2008). The Yamaha RMAX is also used to monitor the active volcanoes and vents in Japan (Marks 2006), making volcanic monitoring much easier and safer, because monitoring volcanic activities by crews on board the flight can be dangerous (Geophysical research abstracts 2006). 4) PROBLEMS 4.1) EXPLOSIVE TAKE- OFF:- Fixed wing UAVs use conventional take off methods such as; rolling takeoff, RATO (rocket assisted take off), hydraulic and pneumatic takeoff methods (Cheng 2008). In the case of the rocket assisted takeoff, a rocket is being fired upwards to give the fixed wing UAV an upward thrust (Ibid). The rocket contains explosives substances that can be very harmful to the crews that are in operation, causing injuries to the crew and damages to the equipment in use or surrounding equipments (Ibid). This kind of problem rarely happens in a manned aircraft because the distance between the aircraft that is about to take off is a bit far from the ground crews. 4.2) SIZE AND LIMITED SPACE:- In a UAV, the rolling takeoff method is limited to the kind of area where the UAV is taking off from. This can be a problem in a case of emergency where an immediate takeoff is required, and there is little or no amount of space for the rolling of the UAV (Ibid). Launching a fixed winged UAV through a hydraulic and pneumatic takeoff method depends on the size and weight of the UAV (Ibid). If the weight of the UAV that is about to be deployed is far more heavy than the required weight, a delay in deployment will occur because the force that the massive UAV exerts on the hydraulic launcher is greater that the upward thrust the hydraulic launcher exerts on the UAV (Ibid). However in a manned aircraft, take-off space is not a barrier because there is unlimited substantial amount of for the craft to take off. 4.3) MISHAP RATE:- In a manned aircraft, when there is an emergency problem in the aircraft, the pilot flying the plane notices the problem through the cockpit indicators and can be able to rectify the problem (Tyabji 2007). But in an unmanned aircraft, if a problem that needs an emergency solution

occurs, there is no person onboard the flight that will try to solve the problem (Ibid). The average mishap rate of UAVs over the past seven years has been 4.28% (Ibid) because of being crewless. Another problem facing UAV pilots is that the menu buttons for navigating the craft are too complicated (Ibid). It takes quite a long time for the pilot to find the obvious button to trigger causing time to be wasted (Ibid). According to (Cheng 2008) helicopter style UAV wastes too much fuel and time to reach a troubled spot. The time wasted can lead to a loss in national profit (Ibid). According to (Marks 2006) Some UAVs can also be a risk to national profit because they fly around without any air traffic regulation. A police surveillance UAV was forbidden in Los Angeles sheriff’s department from flying because of causing risk to other air traffic and loss in national profit (Ibid). This high mishap rate in UAV is greater than that of a manned aircraft, because in manned aircraft crews on board the flight might be able to avoid a foreseen accident (Tyabji 2007).

FIGURE 1: RQ-1A PREDATOR MISHAP RATE

Figure 1 above shows the average mishap rate of the RQ-1A PREDATOR UAV. Mishap is the number of accidents occurring per 100,000 hours of fleet time of UAVs. This data was obtained in the year 2005.

From figure 1 above it is shown that UAVs have not succeeded in being reliable because a possible accident can occur through any of the means stated above such as; human/ground problems, flight control problems, common problems, miscellaneous problems. These mishap rate trends are lesser in manned aircraft because it is easy for the pilot flying the airplane to detect the any problem that occurs in the air craft suddenly. These mishap problems are likely to decrease in the future. However, the rate of mishap rate is inversely proportional to the price of the UAVs i.e. as the problem lessens the price of obtaining a UAV increases. So in the future, there is a possibility that the price of obtaining a UAV will be expensive. 5) LIMITATIONS 5.1) EXPENSIVE:- The price of obtaining a UAV is too expensive (Shim et al 2008). This price barrier limits the amount of people that purchase UAV. Average people such as Farmers that need a UAV for their crop production can’t be able to afford it (Ibid). Price decrease of UAVs in the future could help the productivity of crops on a larger scale. 5.2) EDUCATED:- Moreover, before gaining assesses to operate a UAV you must have achieved some educational qualifications in a higher institution relating to piloting (Shim et al 2008). Obtaining this qualification might take a long time because you have to have some knowledge in systems like general principle of flight dynamics, electronics, communication, navigational systems and many more (Ibid). Aviation industries should make flying a UAV not complicated in the future in order to enable ordinary people gain assess to flying a UAV. 5.3) FAILURE OF AVIATION INDUSTRY:- According to (Marks 2006) the failure of the aviation industry to obtain the necessary radio frequencies needed for operating the UAV has become a limitation in areas which the UAV can go, because it can interrupt other devices that use radio frequencies to operate. So UAVs have to operate on their own range of frequency that does not interrupt with wireless networks (Ibid). 6) FUTURE APPLICATIONS OF UAV TECHNOLOGY

6.1) CIVILIAN APPLICATION:- In the future, all the problems and limitations of UAV can be less if they are all tackled, making the application of UAV technology used in some various functions such as; criminal surveillance purposes and fire services search and rescue missions on the coast guard, inspection of power and power pipeline (Mark 2006).UAV technology can also be used to provide wireless coverage to broadband and cellphone providers (Ibid).Moreover, aerospace companies plan to create civilian pilotless planes because of the success of the military UAV (Marks 2006). 6.2) MILITARY APPLICATION:- The success of military UAV has been obvious in most parts of the world including the Asia-pacific region. The quick victory the U.S gained over Iraq was mainly due to the high-tech intelligence assisted by Global Hawk (Newcome 2004) which in turn helped the U.S forces to attack and destroy control and command over Iraqi leadership (Rooney 2003). Therefore, in the future coming, UAV will be widely used in gathering intelligence in the world which is notable in China, India and Australia who are already investing in it (Newcome 2004). According to (Heath 2003) with the rapid improvement of the technology, human beings will be likely to survive the future in battle fields. Therefore manned fighters and bombers, even though will not be completely replaced, will still be used in lesser circumstances, resulting on more reliance on UAVs in military combat. 6.3) MORE PREFERED:- Moreover, as UAV create the commander a greater degree of awareness, they will be preferred over current methods, for example the use of land rovers and light helicopters in the Australian army in warfare to fly over the territory of the enemy monitoring continuously (Mac Carry 1999).In addition, there is possibility that UAVs can replace manned aircrafts in the future (Casner 2001). However from the technological and commercial point of view this issue is not totally clear. No passenger would want to board an aircraft that has no pilot flying it because the technological factors are made unaware in the sight of the public (Ibid). 7) CONCLUSION UAV will be significant in the future to come if the problems and limitations of UAVs are solved. The problems can be solved by the improvement of the failures UAV suffers presently. If the problems and limitations of UAVs are solved rapidly there will be a possibility of UAV surpassing manned aircraft in the future to come. However, the surpassing of manned aircrafts over UAVs can be limited. It can be limited in the sense that no one would like to board an unmanned aircraft because, if the craft experiences a problem high above in the sky, no one on board will be able solve the problem since everyone on board is a passenger but UAVs can surpass manned aircraft in the military sector. In conclusion this essay has shown how UAVs have failed compared to manned aircraft, and how UAVs can be useful in the future to come if all the problems and limitations are tackled.

8)	BIBILIOGRAPHY 1)	Barnard Microsystems limited 2006-2008, UAV reliability, summary of UA failure mode findings [online] uav_roadmap 2005.pdf. Available from http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/L4E_reliability.htm#mishap

2)	Casner, S.M. (2001). The pilot’s guide to the modern airline cockpit. Ames: lowa state university press. p.3

3)	Cheng, S. (2008) ‘Rapid deployment UAV’. Aerospace Conference, 2008, IEEE, pp. 1-8.

4)	Draganflyer innovations Inc. 2009 [Online] Available from: http://www.draganfly.com/uav-helicopter/draganflyer.x6/

5)	Geophysical research abstract (2006) [Online] Available from: http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU06/02901/EGU06-J-0290/.pdf

6)	Heath, S.G. (2003). Unmanned systems: A genuine revolution in military airfares? The Royal Air Forces Air Power Review, 6(2), pp. 33-35

7)	Mc Carry, P.J. (1999). The other side of the hill. Fairbairn, A.C.T.: Air power studies centre. p.9

8)	Marks, P. (2006) Uncrewed aerial vehicles: no pilot, no problem? [Online] New Scientist, 2580. Available from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225806.400-uncrewed-aerial-vehicles-no-pilot-no-problem.html [10 February 2009].

9)	Newcome, L, R. (2004).Unmanned aviation: A brief history of unmanned aerial vehicles. Reston, Va.: American Institute of Aeronautics and astronautics, p.10

10)	Rooney, B. (2003). War on saddam.London: Robinson. p.11

11)	Shim, D., Han, J. & Yeo, H. (2009) ‘A development of unmanned helicopters for industrial applications’. Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, 54 (1-3), pp. 407-421.

12)	Tyabji, A (2007) Unique problems associated with UAV employment [online] BNET United kingdom. Available from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBT/is_5_63/ai_n19396165[26march2009]