Introduction to Fixed-Wing Drone Design

Learn to use the general sizing spreadsheet to size a fixed-wing drone, estimating endurance, range, stall, wing loading, payload, batteries, propulsion, and performance plots.

Access two web-based aerodynamics tools—mockup four (non-dimensional, Fortran backend) and mockup five (dimensional, Python backend with propeller aerodynamics)—with configurable units.

Evaluate payload of 0.15 kg, target a 35% mass fraction for a foam airframe, and adjust airframe weight as battery weight and avionics power change, iterating on drag and density.

size the main wing by adjusting wing loading and aspect ratio to optimize efficiency, estimate max lift as 0.8 times the airfoil, and show how loading shifts stall speeds.

Increase propulsion capacity with a lithium polymer battery to meet range goals, adjust mass fraction, airspeed, and wing loading to optimize stall margin and overall aircraft range.

Balance mass fraction, airspeed, and stall margin to extend range while meeting packing constraints for a fixed-wing drone with a 90 cm semi span split into two halves.

Selects a 3s 7000 milliamp hours lipo battery, reviews weight from product specs, updates estimates in a spreadsheet, and shows how battery weight improves mass fraction and extends range.

Explore how aspect ratio affects range and flight time for fixed-wing drones, showing that higher aspect ratios improve efficiency, while construction limits maximum feasible ratio.

Focus on how reducing weight improves range and flight time for fixed-wing drones, showing a strong initial gain and the relationship between weight, max range, and cruise speed.

Increasing battery capacity raises aircraft weight, yielding diminishing returns on range and flight time while wing area stays constant, and higher weight also raises stall speed, complicating takeoffs.

The lecture demonstrates adding control surfaces to the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, configuring elevator and rudder deflections, excluding ailerons, and using dihedral to provide roll stability.

Model a fuselage with a simplified representation to visualize sizes, noting mockups don’t affect drag calculations. Elongate a sphere along the x-axis by six and color components for distinction.

Add a battery box with dimensions 140 by 41 by 35 mm (0.140 by 0.041 by 0.035 m), color it differently, and place it in the fuselage nose for visualization.

Import non aerodynamic objects into the mock up, like a scaled battery, using a wireframe wing and STL files from Thingiverse to check fit; they aren’t in the aerodynamic analysis.

Explore airfoils in MachUp by configuring root and tip four digit NACA airfoils for mockups, while updating Clark Y data in X foil to drive accurate aerodynamic simulations.

Learn to use Xfoil for airfoil analysis by loading Clark Y data, adjusting paneling, and obtaining lift, drag, and moment coefficients across angles of attack.

Apply basic aircraft forces and moments to trim and stability, using thrust, drag, lift, weight, CG, and the right-hand rule for rolling, pitching, and yawing moments L, M, N.

Learn how aircraft achieve trim by balancing thrust with drag, weight with lift, and zero side forces and moments about the x, y, and z axes.

Explore the two aerodynamic angles defining the incoming velocity for aircraft: angle of attack, alpha, and sideslip angle, beta, using V infinity to understand aircraft control and stability.

explains stability concepts—from stable to unstable—using a ball-in-a-bowl analogy, and states stability requires negative rolling moment with beta, negative pitching moment with alpha, and positive yawing moment with beta.

Learn how fixed-wing aircraft designers non-dimensionalize lift, drag, and moments, define coefficients like cl, cd, cm, cn, and assess pitch, roll, and yaw stability derivatives.

analyze forces and moments about the center of gravity for a symmetric aircraft at zero angle of attack, applying the right-hand rule to identify rolling, pitching, and yawing moments.

Explore detailed wing design by analyzing washout, taper, mounting angle, and dihedral, and optimize for a cruise lift coefficient of 0.37 with minimal drag and reference wing area consistency.