Design and construction of a novel quad tilt-wing UAV

This paper presents aerodynamic and mechanical design, prototyping and flight control system design of a new unmanned aerial vehicle SUAVI (Sabanci University Unmanned Aerial VehIcle). SUAVI is an electric powered quad tilt-wing UAV that is capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) like a helicopter and long duration horizontal flight like an airplane. Aerodynamic and mechanical designs are optimized to enhance the operational performance of the aerial vehicle. Both of them have great importance for increasing efficiency, reaching the flight duration goals and achieving the desired tasks. A full dynamical model is derived by utilizing Newton–Euler formulation for the development of the flight control system. The prototype is constructed from carbon composite material. A hierarchical control system is designed where a high level controller (supervisor) is responsible for task decision, monitoring states of the vehicle, generating references for low level controllers, etc. and several low level controllers are responsible for attitude and altitude stabilization. Results of several simulations and real flight tests are provided along with flight data to show performance of the developed UAV.