Development and validation of software for rapid performance estimation of small RPAS

There is a high demand for small unmanned aircraft for a wide variety of missions. The relatively limited experience and resources of new commercial companies renders it almost impossible for them to tackle a complete design process with the same quality and results as bigger and more experienced companies. We aim to develop a full rapid design methodology software for such aircraft and present the first step in the process in the form of a performance estimation model. This model is tested with data from ten different commercially available RPAS, as well as two additional RPAS for aerodynamic validation. A comparison between the results obtained by means of this model and the manufacturers' data is presented.