An awesome video from youtube showing just how well these UAV’s can see to spy on Libyan Rebels
Aviation and Airplane Performance
There are quite a bit of factors that can affect aircraft performance. If you don’t keep in mind these factors you may find yourself in a dangerous situation where you will receive a violation from the FAA or even worse, dead. Aircraft manufacturers provide this information in the form of charts. These are generally located in the Performance section of the POH. Performance charts are usually shown as a table or graph. To get the most accurate result you must use all the chart procedures and guidelines.
Two factors affecting airplanes are the weight of the airplane and wind. The groundspeed and time en route can change due to the wind direction and speed. Since we know that performance decreases with altitude we also know that decreases in air density due to temperature, pressure, or humidity will also cause a decrease in performance. Humidity is usually disregarded due to the maximum affect only being a 7% decrease.
Another large reason to determine performance is landing and taking off distance. This can make the difference between hitting an obstacle or rolling of a runway. The runway gradient is the amount of change in the slope of a runway over its length. A gradient of 2% means the slope changes 2ft for every 100ft of runway. A positive gradient may be favorable for landing as it will require less room to slow down, but it also makes it unfavorable to take off due to increased force required to push the airplane up the slope. Takeoff and landing charts for each specific airplane help tremendously with calculating these numbers.
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| An example of a takeoff distance chart from a CESSNA POH book |
The best angle of climb airspeed is normally used for obstacle clearance immediately after takeoff. Due to a higher pitch attitude your forward visibility is also decreased. Usually you use the best rate of climb after clearing all obstructions. This will give you the highest climb rate. Before an airplane can gain altitude it must have a reserve of thrust. The service ceiling of an aircraft refers to the altitude where an aircraft is only able to climb 100 feet per minute. This is commonly referred to as absolute ceiling since it represents the practical ceiling for the aircraft.
Dragon Eye Miniature UAV
The Dragon Eye is five-pound, easily carried in a back-pack, UAV providing aerial patrolling and surveillance for branches of the military such as the US Marine Corps at low tactical units levels. Dragon Eye’s have twin electric engines that run on battery power with little to no noise. It is flown independently at an altitude of 150m’. The Dragon Eye weighs in at 2.5 kg, the camera and equipment weighs 1 pound. It is reported that The US Marines Corps are planning to obtain a more enhanced version of The Dragon-Eye, better known as model X-63.
The system its self can be conveniently carried in your average backpack, and can be disassembled into five sections and carried with the 5 kg control station. It has the ability to be assembled in the field within ten minutes. Dragon Eye’s is constructed using lightweight Styrofoam-like materials. It has a wingspan of 18 cm once full assembled and weighs about five pounds. The intended missions is then programmed on the control station and transmitted, via wireless modem, to the UAV. The UAV can be launched either by a bungee cords or by hand. After launch it reaches a cruise altitude and navigates via GPS. The camera is mounted on the fuselage side and is capable of transmitting live video to a ground station 10 km away, utilizing line-of-sight video data link. Less than a week’s training is required for a solider to be able to operate the system.
(Photo by defense-update)
Above is the Dragon Eye system consisting of two air vehicles, four cameras, two replacement noses and one ground control station. The estimated cost of the entire system at full rate production is approximately $60,000-70,000.Further development and testing still awaits the Dragon Eye such as the addition of a high-resolution 640 x 480 infrared camera, development of a communications relay payload, a communications system, and experimentation with alternate power supplies and air vehicle design to improve endurance. A prototype zinc-air battery has already been tested on the unmanned drone.
• Air vehicle: 2.5 kg
• Wing span: 18 cm
• GCS – 6 kg
• Endurance: 60 minutes
• Cruise speed: 65 km/h
Aerovironment is currently developing an enhanced version based on requirements and operational feedback from combat units operating the drone. The Dragon Eye UAV Upgrade, also known as X-63, will receive air frame changes as well as improved power sources increasing its capability’s. It will also receive an autopilot for improved landing accuracy and in-flight navigation, and a new sensor payload with an IR and zoom camera that will providing true day/night capability. The system will have a new Level-4 compliant communications control board with 16 software selectable channels for uplink and downlink.
MAV (Miniature UAVs)
Miniature UAVs or MAVs have been in development since the early 1990s and have developed tremendously over the years. A large majority of the research done to produce these MAVs was done by universities and corporations. MAVs are generally smaller than 2 feet in size and are capable of hovering using propellers or various sorts of ducted propellor systems. You may even see some flying out at your local RC field. They’re called quadcopters, and show just how easy aerial surveillance can be with these aircraft.
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| Quadcopter UAV design Source: gizmag.com |
A unique ability of the MAV is its ability to ‘perch and stare’ or land in a location and film. This has great advantages because the MAV can use tremendously less amounts of power than constantly flying, allowing for weeks of surveillance. One downside is that MAVs are traditionally line of sight, or unable to go beyond 100ft away from the operator. Some onboard cameras have been developed, as well as autonomous flight. This is still in testing but will be available soon I believe.
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| A proposed MAV design Source: fas.org |
Concept MAVs include designs coming from insects, that’s right insects. Dragonflies are small, and able to fly in any direction they want. Concept designers have tried taking advantage of this for surveillance but unfortunately have been unable to produce the same size and lift capability. Our technology just isn’t developed enough. Some say these could be available in the next 10 years, though.
How do I become a UAV pilot?
UAV operators will be very much in demand in the coming decade. As UAV’s are more and more developed more companies are looking for operators of these vehicles. One way of becoming a UAV pilot is by going to college for a Bachelors in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Sciences. This is the path I am taking at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. ERAU is the first school to offer a Bachelors degree in UAS. With salaries expect anywhere from $60,000-170,000 a year this is a great oppurtunity.
After four years at a college for your Bachelors degree I would recommend getting at least your private pilot license with an IFR rating. A few of the companies looking for UAV operators include Boeing, General Atomics, and Northrop Grumman. You don’t need to go to a school like Embry Riddle to get education related to Unmanned Aircraft, other colleges offer a minor in this field and can also be a good career path to take.
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| A cool picture of nano-copters flying in formation thanks to defensetech.org |
Embry Riddle is one of the top accredited aviation universities in the country, with great job relations to actually help you find a job when you get out. After being at the school for a couple months I can safely say I should have no issue finding a job when I get out. Numerous job fairs related to a career in operating UAV’s have been hosted and there is no lack of jobs. Other ways of becoming a UAV operator include a military track as well as having 8 years of equivalent training in working on or flying UAV’s. I will cover these alternate routes to a career in operating UAV’s in coming posts, stay tuned!