The future of technology lies in the diverse characteristics and capabilities of completely autonomous machines and devices and their application in many technical challenges such as maritime operations. Rapid technology development, market globalization and availability of cheap electronics and controls, has recently resulted in increased scientific and technical interest in drones as autonomous solutions for professional, as well as, amateur applications. On the other hand, researchers recently have been improving how manmade machines move through air by attempting to replicate animals motion in terms of mimicking their aerial abilities. In this paper, we propose a development of a highly bio-inspired modular drone concept motivated by the bats agility, wingspan and wings folding into various shapes. The drone is intended to perform sea port applications in terms of diagnosing and resolving issues such as mapping, surveying, tank inspection and port traffic control as pollution monitoring and detection of illegal activities. On the other hand, the aerial performances of the drone and the integrated sensors allow it to be able to conduct windmills monitoring by identifying defects from many miles away and automatically send that information to officials in real-time. This small bat-inspired drone is proposed to have an ability of making a flight transition from rotary wing aircraft to fixed wing aircraft mid-air while autonomously performing flights with precisely defined trajectories. The accent will be put on the interchangeable wings for achieving high modularity, analysis of their dynamic attributes and transformation possibilities as a crucial segment of the overall drone performance. The hybridity of the aircraft is obtained by moving the axis of rotation of the propellers, without altering the shape of the wing or the airframe. The main structure of the spacecraft is proposed to be constructed of composite materials because of their strength-to-weight ratio. The design and fabrication process and the flight characteristics of the various wing configurations of the drone are discussed in details. Limitations of the drone, proposed solutions for further development and recommendations are also presented.


Design and Analysis of a Modular VTOL Drone With Bat-Inspired Wings

Division / Sponsors: 
Aerospace Division

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2020/volume/84027

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