Design and Flight Test of a Compact and Rapidly-Deployable Air-Launched Inflatable-Winged Aircraft

What is it about?

In this research, a high-altitude, compact and rapidly deployable, air-launched, inflatable-winged aircraft is designed, developed, and flight-tested to investigate the flight characteristics of inflatable-winged aircraft as well as the in-flight inflation and dynamic deployment properties when launched from various carriers. To start with, two types of inflatable wings employing different materials have been designed, fabricated, and tested, the tests including structural characteristics tests, inflation properties tests, and low-Reynolds-number wind-tunnel tests. A full-scale 30-kilogram prototype unmanned aerial vehicle with inflatable wings was then designed, assembled and tested with some basic low-altitude flights to verify the feasibility of the aerodynamic layout and the trim and stability and control characteristics. Finally, low- and high-altitude in-flight launches will be conducted to study the dynamic deployment properties and high-altitude flight characteristics of this design.

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Photo by Felipe Vieira on Unsplash

Photo by Felipe Vieira on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This research has successfully designed, developed, and flight-tested an air-launched inflatable-winged aircraft. The study focused on investigating the flight characteristics of inflatable wings and the UAV equipped with them. A high-altitude balloon-launched test at an altitude of 8,500 meters has been planned for the near future to further test the design. Additionally, future work will also focus on conducting high-altitude in-flight launches from various carriers to comprehensively assess the dynamic deployment properties and high-altitude flight performance of the UAV.

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