Subsystem development and flight testing of an electroaerodynamic UAV

Abstract

Electroaerodynamic (EAD) propulsion is a form of in-atmosphere electric thrust generation with no direct emissions, no moving parts, and is nearly silent. Previous work has quantified the thrust-to-power and thrust density of EAD propulsion. An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was designed with the optimization tool GPkit and with the flight mission goal of steady-level flight. This thesis describes the design and testing of several subsystems of the UAV, including the power system, the communication system, the aircraft tail, and the aircraft launching system. The power system is tested to deliver up to a maximum of 600 W at 40 kV. A system to collect flight data is also designed, based on a video camera and Kalman filter that measures the horizontal and vertical velocities of the aircraft throughout a flight. Seven powered, indoor flight tests on the order of 5 s are performed at a voltage level of 36.2 kV, 2.44 N of thrust, a thrust-to-power ratio of 7.2 N/kW and an average lift-to-drag ratio of 10.0. The average specific excess power (SEP) of the aircraft measured from the seven flight tests is -0.053 m/s.