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Introduction to Unmanned Air Systems
In its simplest form, the Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) or Unmanned Air System (UAS), as it is starting to be called, is a pilotless plane. It is a small aircraft, with an on-board computer, or, microprocessor, together with control, sensor and communication electronics.
Any aerial application, in which the payload weighs less than an average adult male (say 85 Kgs, although the US military allows a “worst case” soldier weight of 136 Kgs) could be performed less expensively and in a more environmentally friendly way, through the use of an Unmanned Air Vehicle.
UAVs have an historical military presence, in the form of the German V1 flying bomb of Second World War vintage, followed by the modern turbine-powered cruise missile, such as the US Tomahawk cruisemissile shown below, made by Raytheon. There are also some differences between the V1, the cruise missile and the UAV: the UAV returns for reuse. The early civilian UAV was in essence a radio controlled aeroplane.
Upper left: V1 "Flying Bomb" from http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/WWII/v1/v1_info/vi_info.htm (link no longer exists)
Upper right: Tomahawk cruise missile from www.raytheon.com
|
|
V1 “Flying Bomb” 1944 – 45 |
Raytheon Tomahawk 1983 - present |
units |
|
Max speed |
656 |
880 |
Kph |
|
Max payload |
850 |
454 |
Kg |
|
Max range |
330 |
1,104 |
Km |
|
Wingspan |
5.3 |
2.67 |
m |
An important parameter for military UAVs is their endurance time, whereas a prime parameter for civilian UAVs, especially those in use on survey work, is their range. For more interesting information on the history of Unmanned Air Vehicles, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_unmanned_aerial_vehicles .
The inexpensive UAV can criss-cross a region, or, repeatedly patrol an area, for up to 30 hours at a time, under computer control, day and night, under almost any weather condition, in an environmentally sustainable manner. This makes it a compelling solution for all manner of aerial reconnaissance and geophysical survey work. A comprehensive overview of Unmanned Air Vehicles is provided in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle .
Note the tremendous flight endurance for Unmanned Air Vehicles.
from http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/ncrst/meetings/20031202SBA-UAV2003/Presentations/Wegener1.pdf
The US military is spending an enormous amount of money and time on the development and deployment of Unmanned Air Systems, and it is instructive to learn of their progress. A comprehensive document on the activities and experience of the US military in this area is to be found in the UAS Roadmap 2005 - 2030:
download uav_roadmap2005 (note this is a big document: 9.216 MBytes)
This photo is of the 2.7 Kg Dragon Eye UAV system at work in Fallujah.
Photo by LTC Norm Root
as posted on http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/articles/military_photos_20052111.asp
The 12,110 Kg Northrop Grumman “Global Hawk” with a range of 22,236 Km
- from http://www.northropgrumman.com/unmanned/
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