CEAS Aeronaut J

DOI 10.1007/s13272-015-0176-x

ORIGINAL PAPER

Conceptual design studies of vertical takeoff and landing remotely

piloted aircraft systems for hybrid missions
S. Herbst1,2 • G. Wortmann1 • M. Hornung2

Received: 10 December 2014 / Revised: 27 August 2015 / Accepted: 29 October 2015

 Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. 2015

Abstract Spurred by the rapid progress in sensor B150 kg was identified which accomplishes both the
performance increase associated with contemporary aerodynamic and performance demands and the controlla-
miniaturization, many companies, organizations, and gov- bility in all flight segments.
ernments are interested in using new opportunities in civil
remotely piloted aircraft system applications. Coupled with Keywords Aircraft design  RPAS  VTOL  Hybrid
an enhancement in propulsion system performance as well missions  Morphologic box
as an optimized and well-matched aerodynamic design,
flight envelope limits can be enlarged and new mission List of symbols
profiles arise. Due to these ambitions, resulting hybrid ATR (/s) Attained turn rate
missions become more complex and individual with par- AR Aspect ratio
tially contradicting demands, such as vertical takeoff and b (m) Wingspan
landing capabilities, fast climb and cruise combined with a CDO Parasite drag coefficient
long-endurance loiter capability, and a hover capability up CLa Aircraft lift slope
to altitudes of 5000 m. In order to fulfill the diverse mis- CL,max Maximum lift coefficient
sion requirements, several configuration concepts are cr (m) Wing root chord
investigated. The focus is laid on different propulsion ct (m) Wing tip chord
system concepts where various technologies and energy H (m) Altitude
storage types are considered, as well as their effects on the H_ (m/s) Climb speed
aerodynamic shape and the controllability of the configu- M (Nm) Pitch moment
ration. The investigated concepts comprise tilt propeller, N Propeller blade number
tilt ducted propeller, and tilt wing configurations with fixed n g-load factor
and variable pitch propeller. Based on these studies, a k k-factor
feasible concept in the weight category of MTOW P (W) Power
PL (N/W) Power loading
PM (kg) Payload mass
This paper is based on a presentation at the German Aerospace
Q (Nm) Torque
Congress, September 16–18, 2014, Augsburg, Germany.
R (m) Radius
& S. Herbst S (m2) Area
[email protected] SEP (m/s) Specific excess power
1 STR (/s) Sustained turn rate
Fakultät für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., Munich Aerospace,
c/o Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., Willy-Messerschmitt-Straße 1, T (N) Thrust
85521 Ottobrunn, Germany TOM (kg) Takeoff mass
2
Present Address: Institute of Aircraft Design, Technische TOW (N) Takeoff weight
Universität München, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, TWR Thrust-to-weight ratio
Germany

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 S. Herbst et al.

V (m/s) Horizontal flight speed 2 Requirements on VTOL RPAS

W (N) Weight
WL (N/m2) Wing loading In contrast to conventional fixed-wing RPAS, the VTOL
w (m/s) Gust speed comprises the supplemental thrust demand for hover and
a () Angle of attack also axial climb capability. Moreover, an easily maneu-
g Efficiency verable slow flight speed characteristic is required to
r () Thrust installation angle switch between vertical and horizontal flight mode. Addi-
q (kg/m3) Air density tionally, the detailed requirements to accomplish the two
benchmark missions [2] are defined.
Indices
0 Static condition @ mean sea level (MSL) 2.1 Mission
P Propeller
ref Reference The point performance requirements are derived from both
z z-direction the avalanche victims and the missing paraglider mission
[2]. Relevant parameters are as follows:
• Flight speeds (V)
1 Introduction
• Flight altitudes (H)
• Climb speeds (H) _
Exemplary fields of civil application for vertical takeoff
and landing (VTOL) remotely piloted aircraft systems • Gust speed (w)
(RPASs) start from surveillance tasks, followed by payload • Sustained and attained turn rate (STR, ATR)
delivery jobs, through to manned-unmanned-teaming In Table 1, the respective highest value is defined for the
search and mark (SAM) tasks in mountainous areas. design limits:
Especially the SAM capability in context of a search and
rescue mission puts high requirements on an RPAS, both • Specific excessive power (SEP)
on flight performance and payload qualities. Use cases • Turn rates STR and ATR
might be the search for avalanche victims [1, 2], which is • Gust speed
very time critical because the survival probability sinks to • Maximum flight speed and stall flight speed
only 50 % after 20 min [3], and the search for a crashed • Hover, axial climb, and transition.
paraglider in an extensive territory in the European Alps The required climb speed of H_ SEP ¼ 14 m=s and the
[2]. Due to the partly contrasting flight performance flight speed of Vclimb ¼ 42 m=s are based on the mission
demands, those missions are defined as hybrid and lead to performance of the avalanche victims’ scenario in order to
new challenges in RPAS design. reach the search area in less than 10 min. According to the
The main objective is to identify an RPAS configuration ceiling of the European Alps, the maximum flight altitude
which contains the capabilities to fulfill those hybrid mis- Hmax ¼ 5000 m is demanded, and because of the
sions successfully. In addition, requirements on environ-
mental regulations and airspace integration are considered
as well. Table 1 Mission requirements
According to that, a market analysis of the latest VTOL
RPAS designs was performed. Today far more than 600 Requirement Value Effected design limit
RPAS configurations exist [4], and with expected expen- Vclimb 42 m/s SEP
ditures of $89 billion in the next 9 years [5], the number Vcruise 40 m/s STR, ATR
will continue to grow. Regarding the hybrid missions, 13 Vmax 60 m/s Vmax, gust
completely conceptually different VTOL configurations are Vstall 10 m/s Vstall, transition
analyzed and compared with regard to mission perfor- Hmax 5000 m Hover, axial climb
mance, propulsion system, noise emissions, and stability Hcruise 4200 m SEP, STR, ATR, Vmax, gust, transition,
and control. As reference, the classic helicopter configu- Vstall
ration is used. H_ SEP 14 m/s SEP
Subsequently, a new design concept is derived from a H_ vertical 3 m/s Axial climb
morphologic box which qualitatively compares the prop- w 11 m/s Gust
erties of the configurations. Initial design parameters are STR 28/s STR
calculated by using the aircraft design chart equations from
ATR 35/s ATR
fixed- and rotary-wing design.

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Conceptual design studies of vertical takeoff and landing remotely piloted aircraft systems…

distribution of search-and-rescue bases, a maximum flight 2.3 Environment

speed of Vmax ¼ 60 m=s is essential to reach all destina-
tions in time. For more detailed information, see Ref. [2]. In the context of the defined goals by the European Com-
Among those demands, there is also the mission per- mission for aircraft until 2020 [6], the objective is to
formance requirement of a loiter capability of up to 6 h at develop an RPAS which satisfies all environmental
Vcruise and Hcruise : requirements. This basically comprises that the propulsion
system should reduce CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions to
2.2 Payload a minimum or better avoid them completely using batter-
ies, fuel cells, or hydrogen.
Since RPASs are flying sensor platforms, the aircraft To meet the target of noise emission which should be
design process focuses more on the interdependencies decreased by more than 50 %, an optimized overall aircraft
between sensor payload requirements and their effects on design is demanded, because a customized propulsion
the aircraft itself (see Fig. 1). In order to complete the system integration can contribute to reduce the noise level.
task of the SAM missions, the following abilities are
demanded: 2.4 Certification and airspace integration
• Detect and identify persons and objects by day and
A remotely piloted aircraft system consists of an unmanned
night
aircraft which is piloted from its remote pilot station (RPS),
• Detect avalanche victims
an associated command and control data link as well as all
• Transmit the information via a data link to the ground
other components specified in the type design. Depending
control station or rescue personnel
on the type of operation and local regulations, the RPAS
• Optional: communicate with victims on the ground
needs a type certificate and an airworthiness certification
Therefore, electro-optical, infrared, or night vision sen- similar to every manned aircraft. Furthermore, a detect and
sors, and an avalanche transceiver are required. There is avoid system is needed in order to perform a safe flight and
also a need for an antenna to transmit and receive data. to be integrated into non-segregated airspace [7].
Additionally, sensors for airspace integration with the
ability to detect and avoid air-to-air and air-to-land are 2.5 Stability and control
demanded.
The most important sensor parameters for aircraft design The control requirement is divided into two parts: on one
are as follows: hand, stability and control of the aircraft and on the other
hand, control of the aircraft via a data link by the RPS.
• Weight
The aircraft should have static stable characteristics in
• Performance
all flight phases. The control margin should be as large as
• Power demand
the worst gust condition defined. As a consequence, the
• Size
control surfaces or mechanisms have to be designed for
fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight mode.
The data link has to connect the RPAS with the RPS in
the whole flight envelope. If this is not possible because of
obstacles in the line of sight direction, a data link con-
nection via a relay station must be ensured.

3 State-of-the-art VTOL RPAS concepts

From a manned aircraft point of view, today’s existing

VTOL RPAS prototypes or design studies can still be
described as unconventional aircraft (except helicopters).
The 13 analyzed configurations differ in their propulsion
system, in their method to generate additive thrust for
hovering, axial climb, and the transition phase, as well as
their takeoff weight which is not an exclusion criterion.
Furthermore, it is important to point out that not all dis-
Fig. 1 Sensor-aircraft interdependencies played configurations have reached the state of a flying

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 S. Herbst et al.

prototype yet. It is obvious that the designs can be clustered

into four categories: Fixed-wing configurations with addi-
tive thrust devices, rotary-wing configurations with addi-
tive wings, tilting aircraft, and helicopter. Most of the
chosen concepts use the fixed-wing configuration base. The
following analysis focuses on the propulsion and thrust
concept, maximum takeoff mass (MTOM), and emissions
and evaluates the overall design with respect to the defined Fig. 3 Tazenflugel with tilted wings [8]
VTOL RPAS requirements.
takeoff and landing and horizontal flight phases. The
3.1 Fixed wing 1 additive thrust propulsion system is hybrid composed of one diesel
engine turning an electric generator and additional
This section includes eight different designs with a maxi- batteries which results in a MTOM = 64 kg. The
mum takeoff mass of 1:2 kg  MTOM  1180 kg. exhaust emissions are only reduced during takeoff
(1) Dos Samara while using the batteries, but the noise emissions are
It is a configuration with a high wing aspect ratio and collectively low because of the low disk loading of
TOW 2
outboard wing panels together with a pusher pro- SP ¼ 43:11 N/m . The mission performance seems
peller located at the fuselage aft. As can be seen in to be promising and also the noise characteristics can
Fig. 2, the outboard panels spin as single rotors in meet the goals but the stability and control in vertical
order to produce additive thrust for the vertical flight flight mode with only two propellers and aileron
phase. The propulsion system consists of one engine deflection is critical in flight conditions with wind
for the pusher propeller and two electric motors for and gusts [8]. Also the sensor field of view would
the wing rotors. Hence, needed batteries and a rigid have to pan 90 in transition and vertical flight mode.
wing frame result in a MTOM = 66 kg. By using
batteries instead of a combustion engine, not only the
(3) Trifecta
exhaust emissions, but also noise is reduced because
Figure 4 displays the tricopter concept sketch in single
only a reduced wing rotor tip speed is needed
propeller mode for horizontal flight. For takeoff and
compared to the average helicopter. The concept
landing, the front propeller can be tilted 90 and two
promises reasonable mission performance but the
single-blade propellers on the tips of the horizontal tail
stability and control during transition and vertical
provide additional thrust. The wing design is only
flight seems to be hard to handle, in particular with
focused on horizontal flight which leads to good
wind and gusts. Also asymmetrical loads can occur
mission performance. In order to supplement power,
in the single-blade rotor shafts and induce vibrations
the hybrid propulsion system consists of a diesel
into the wing [8].
engine and batteries. The takeoff mass is MTOM ¼
120 kg and contains a payload mass PM ¼ 27 kg.
(2) Tazenflugel Similar to the Tazenflugel, the exhaust emissions are
Similar to the Dos Samara concept, the Tazenflugel only reduced during takeoff. The noise emissions are
has a wing with a high aspect ratio. The main unmodified, but in relation to the Dos Samara and
features are the propeller at the wing tips and Tazenflugel concept probably higher because of the
separately titling wings to adjust the thrust vector. three propellers. On the other hand, the stability and
Figure 3 shows that it is a tail sitter configuration control in all flight phases is better because differential
which means the aircraft has to tilt 90 between thrust and torque are in a triangular disposition and
also ailerons can be used [9].

Fig. 2 Concept Sketch Dos Samara [8] Fig. 4 Concept sketch Trifecta [9]

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Fig. 7 Excalibur during flight [13]

Fig. 5 Concept sketch Tilt Duct UAV [10]

(4) Tilt duct UAV the objective that the front part can carry a payload
In order to reduce noise and increase efficiency in mass of PM = 91 kg at a takeoff mass of
the cruise phase, this design concept uses three MTOM = 1000 kg. The endurance requirement is
ducted propellers. The two main ducted propellers sufficiently fulfilled, and other performance require-
are mounted at the wing tips and can be tilted as can ments are even exceeded. By using a kerosene
be seen in Fig. 5. The third one is more like a ducted engine, no significant reduction in exhaust emissions
fan, because it is located in the fuselage between is expected and the noise will be similar to average
wing and tail and generates thrust only in z-direction. twin-prop configurations. Due to the higher MTOM,
The wing tip ducts have a relatively big cross- the configuration demands propulsive power which
sectional area, and despite short lever arms, they hardly can be provided by batteries, so that these
generate big bending moments which lead to a rigid noise emissions have to be taken into account. In
wing frame and a takeoff mass of TOM = 103 kg. stability and control for horizontal flight, there is no
The propulsion system is composed of two two- difference identified to standard configurations. In
stroke piston engines. Consequently, there is no vertical flight, the control is made by differential
reduction in exhaust emissions as it would be with a thrust and control surfaces like the aileron [11, 12].
hybrid or electric propulsion system. The static
stability margin of this configuration is 23 %, but the (6) Excalibur
horizontal tail configuration is not optimized for high This configuration stands out by its morphing wing
angles of attack in case of shadowing by the wing. concept. It has three ducted propellers and one tilting
The control in vertical flight mode is good because jet engine, which can be seen in Fig. 7, whereby two
of the triangular thrust distribution. But in case of a ducted propellers are included in extendable wing
loss of one of the main ducted propellers (one engine tips and one is in the front part of the fuselage. In
inoperative, OEI) neither in vertical nor in horizontal case of horizontal flight, only the jet engine is used
flight mode, a control is feasible [10]. In case of the and the wing tips are retracted to a smaller wing
previous noted configurations, a controlled horizon- area. The supplement power during takeoff is
tal flight would still be achievable. provided by batteries and electric motors. Because
of the morphing ducted propeller concept combined
(5) Eagle eye with a jet engine, this RPAS has a rigid and heavy
The Bell Eagle Eye is a tilt propeller configuration wing frame which leads to a takeoff mass of
with one propeller at each wing tip, see Fig. 6. The MTOM = 1180 kg. The mission performance can-
propulsion system is a Pratt and Whitney PW200/55 not reach the requested objectives, instead this
turboshaft engine with a maximum takeoff rating of configuration has a good stability and control
P = 478 kW. The mechanically synchronized pro- characteristic. Due to the jet engine, the emissions
peller system is connected by a gearbox with the are relatively high [13, 14].
engine. The fuselage is divided into three parts with
(7) Wingcopter
This already flying VTOL configuration has four
tilting propellers, mounted at the wing close to the
fuselage, see Fig. 8. The propulsion system is fully

Fig. 6 Bell Eagle Eye [11] Fig. 8 Wingcopter [15]

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 S. Herbst et al.

flight that can be stopped and serves as wing in

horizontal flight mode. Figure 10 displays the X-50A
with the stopped rotor in cruise flight mode. The
propulsion system contains a turbofan engine which
provides direct thrust to the nozzle in the aft fuselage
or to the valves in the rotor blade tips, which
Fig. 9 Tricopter [16] eliminates the need of a transmission or an anti-
electric and the aircraft has a takeoff mass of torque system. The takeoff mass is
MTOM = 2.4 kg with a payload ratio of 16.7 %. MTOM = 662 kg. Exhaust emissions cannot be
The maximum endurance is about t = 20 min, and reduced due to a non-existing hybridization and the
the exhaust emissions are reduced to zero [15]. In mission performance requirements are probably not
case of scaling up this concept, there could be some fulfilled. For stability and control in horizontal flight
problems with the stability and control in vertical both, canard and tail are used [17, 18].
flight because of the relative big tail area and the
corresponding long lever arm in flight conditions
(10) Project zero
with gusts and crosswind. Moreover, a pure electric
Project Zero is a blended wing body configuration
propulsion system for aircraft with MTOM C100 kg
with two tilting ducted propellers integrated in the
is a challenging objective.
middle of the wing, see Fig. 11. The demonstrator
propulsion system consists of batteries and two
(8) Tricopter electric motors without a transmission or swash-
This is the smallest and lightest configuration with a plates. The emissions are reduced, and stability and
takeoff mass of MTOM = 1.2 kg. Figure 9 shows control in vertical and horizontal flight is good. If
that it is a blended wing body configuration with a the design mission consists of a high hover ratio,
delta wing planform and an aspect ratio greater than the outer wing tips can be disassembled. In order to
five. The propulsion system consists of three elec- increase the mission performance, a hybrid propul-
tric-driven propellers. Two counter-rotating pro- sion system consisting of a diesel engine and
pellers are located in front of the configuration and batteries is also under development [19].
can be tilted from -5 to 90. The third one is
mounted in the middle right behind the trailing edge. (11) Quad tilt wing
Its main thrust direction is into the z-direction for The idea of this concept is to combine the
vertical flight. Due to the electric-driven propellers, quadcopter control capabilities with the mission
the exhaust emissions are zero and the triangular performance of a fixed-wing aircraft like the
thrust and torque distribution provide good stability Wingcopter. Figure 12 visualizes that this RPAS
and control in vertical flight [16].

3.2 Rotary wing 1 additive wing

This section contains three concepts in different mass

categories which were already flying for test purposes.
(9) X-50A Fig. 11 Project Zero [19]
This configuration is also called ‘‘Canard Rotor/
Wing’’ demonstrator which has a rotor for vertical

Fig. 10 X-50A [18] Fig. 12 Quad Tilt Wing [20]

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Conceptual design studies of vertical takeoff and landing remotely piloted aircraft systems…

is a twin wing configuration with two propellers on

each wing. The front and rear wing is divided into
left and right wing section and can be tilted
independently. Additionally, a T-tail exists for
stability and control in horizontal flight. The
Fig. 14 CAMCOPTER S-100 [23]
propellers are all driven by electric motors and
batteries so that no exhaust emissions are gener-
ated. The noise emissions are higher than with (13) Schiebel CAMCOPTER S-100
tilting propellers. The quadcopter thrust and torque Figure 14 displays the Schiebel CAMCOPTER
distribution are assumedly the most stable and S-100 which is a rotary engine powered helicopter
controllable configuration for vertical flight. On the RPAS. In addition to the tail rotor, there is also a
other hand, the mission performance is lower than T-tail with a big vertical tail providing sufficient
for a single wing concept [20]. stability and control characteristics. The mission
performance covers the stated requirements but
unfortunately a reduction in exhaust emissions
3.3 Tilting aircraft
using batteries is not achieved. The MTOM =
200 kg includes a maximum payload mass of
A tilting aircraft has no rotating or tilting components
PM = 50 kg which offers the possibility to inte-
except the rotation of the motor and propeller. This means
grate a required detect and avoid system in order to
the entire aircraft is tilted between horizontal and vertical
fly in non-segregated airspace [7, 22]. The cruise
flight phase.
performance efficiency is lower compared to a
(12) T-wing fixed-wing aircraft, which is a general characteris-
This RPAS is a tail sitter configuration with a tic of helicopters.
canard and a wing at the aft fuselage. The wing has
a rectangular planform with two mounted pro-
3.5 Summary
pellers and respectively one vertical tail in the
propeller airflow. Because of no tilting assembly,
Due to the demand of an increase in helicopter mission
the whole aircraft tilts in transition flight phase.
performance, fixed-wing concepts with additive thrust
The propulsion system consists of two two-stroke
devices seem to be the most promising approach according
engines and the aircraft has a takeoff mass of
to qualitative analysis. This also reflects the number of
MTOM = 30 kg. Consequently, the emissions are
concepts which have been developed in the last years. A
high in relation to electric or hybrid propulsion
summary of available technical data is presented in
systems, and neither the flight performance nor the
Appendix Table 3.
stability and control in challenging environmental
conditions seem to be sufficient in order to fulfill
3.6 Morphologic box
the stated requirements [21] (Fig. 13).
Derived from the analysis of the listed configurations, a
3.4 Helicopter morphologic box (see Table 2) is defined. On the hori-
zontal, all features and on the vertical, all evaluated
Helicopters are the most common VTOL aircraft and are characteristics as well as the assignment to the examined
used as a kind of technology and performance reference. RPAS are displayed. The evaluation standard refers to a
propeller-driven fixed-wing configuration with a kerosene
engine. Hence, the evaluation follows this pattern, starting
from an improvement (? ?) through to a deterioration
(- -):
++ + O - --

The applied acronyms are as follows:

F Features
TW Tilt wing
MW Morphing wing
Fig. 13 T-Wing in takeoff position [21]

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 S. Herbst et al.

TP Tilt propeller stability and control characteristic. The third possibility for
DP Ducted propeller changing the thrust vector’s direction is tilting the whole
WP Wing propeller aircraft. A disadvantage of this method is a bad stability
SP Supplemental propeller and control quality. As a consequence, applying tilt pro-
TA Tilt aircraft pellers is the most promising method generating lift for
GF Green fuel vertical flight. If furthermore one or more of those pro-
C Characteristics pellers are only supplemental propulsive devices, the
SW Structure and weight payload weight can be increased because of smaller and
VP Vertical flight performance consequently lighter motors applied only for the vertical
HP Horizontal flight performance flight phase. Moreover, the horizontal flight performance is
H Hovering decoupled from the vertical flight performance. Finally, a
SC Stability and control green or hybrid propulsion system can decrease the exhaust
P Payload emissions and in case of a well-developed overall design
EE Exhaust emissions the noise emissions as well.
NE Noise emissions
AC State-of-the-art VTOL RPAS
4 Conceptual design study ‘‘Janus’’
Neglecting the features with a strong characteristic
deterioration (- -), five applicable features remain
Based on the market analysis of latest VTOL designs and
whereby assets and drawbacks have to be analyzed care-
the utilization of the morphologic box, a conceptual design
fully with regard to the requirements.
study is done. It comprises an initial concept presentation, a
A tilt wing aircraft improves the flight performance in
performance estimation using an aircraft design chart, and
all flight modes but on the other hand, possible payload
the generic description of the stability and control
weight decreases and the noise emissions in transition
principles.
flight mode are bigger compared to a tilt propeller con-
figuration with the same disk loading. This is because of
4.1 Concept
the bigger surface area which has to be tilted in the air flow.
Additionally, a tilt propeller configuration enhances the
The conclusion from the morphologic box is that tilting
propellers and supplemental propellers for vertical flight
phases are the most promising features for a VTOL RPAS
Table 2 Morphologic box with focus on the enhancement of mission performance.
With regard to the challenging weather conditions for
F TW MW TP DP WP SP TA GF
RPAS in context of search-and-rescue missions in moun-
C tainous areas, a quadcopter configuration seems to have the
SW - -- - -- -- - O - best stability and control characteristics in vertical flight.
On the other hand, in horizontal flight, a fixed-wing con-
VP + + + + + ++ + O
figuration with conventional horizontal and vertical tail
HP + ++ + ++ O O O O layout is the best. The main idea is to combine all those
aspects in one aircraft. Figure 15 shows the top view draft
H + + + + + ++ + O of the new concept.
SC O + + O - + - O Most important characteristics of this concept are as
follows:
P - - - -- - + O -
• Split fuselage
EE O O O O O O O ++ • Mid-wing configuration
• High wing aspect ratio
NE - O O + + - O +
• Two tilting propellers in the fuselage noses
3, 4, 1, 2,
2, 5, 7, 4, 6, 1, 3, 3, 6, • Big vertical tails for OEI
AC 11
6
8, 10
1, 9
4, 6
12
7, 8, • Two horizontal tails which are supplemental rotors
10 11
• Modular payload concept

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vertical flight from Table 1 were used. Since the ‘‘Janus’’

concept has a propulsion system consisting of propellers,
respectively, rotors, the focused parameter is the required
motor power. This means thrust-to-weight ratio TWR is
converted to power loading PL by [24]
W0 gP
PL ¼ ¼ : ð1Þ
P0 TWR  V
The three most important limits of horizontal flight are
the specific excess power (SEP), gust, and stall speed limit.
Compared with the initial requirements from Sect. 2, some
are lowered to get first meaningful results. The inputs for
SEP limit calculation by Eq. 2 are H_ SEP ¼ 8 ms , V ¼ 36 ms ,
Fig. 15 Top view draft and gP ¼ 0:85, and the takeoff weight for all limits is
TOM = 150 kg. There is no mass loss during flight.
W0 T  cosða þ rÞ

P0 T0
gP
  2 
_
HSEP W q 2 1 kn2z W0 W
V  W0 þ CD0  2  V  W0 þ qV 2  Sref  W0
2
V
Sref

ð2Þ
Fig. 16 Side view draft
The left bound is the gust limit, which is calculated by
 
A split fuselage provides the possibility to have a two- W0 W0 CLa  wgust  q2  V
  : ð3Þ
propeller configuration in horizontal flight mode and even Sref W Dngust
more important a four-rotor configuration in vertical flight.
The aircraft lift slope was calculated by an initial aspect
The two supplemental variable pitch rotors are mounted on
ratio AR = 17. The right bound is determined by the stall
top of the vertical tail (VT) and are horizontal tails (HT)
speed limit Vstall ¼ 25 ms in horizontal flight by
concurrently. With regard to the mid-wing configuration,
the HTs are arranged above the wing (see Fig. 16) and W0 W0 q
  CL;max   V 2 : ð4Þ
avoid the risk of a deep stall in case of flying with high Sref W 2
angles of attack in transition flight phase. In vertical flight, the axial climb limit has the highest
Using a T-tail layout provides the possibility to integrate power demand and is consequently the design criterion.
the propulsive motor of the horizontal tail rotors into the Concerning this, an equivalent single rotor model with 2
vertical tail. Associated with that is a better application of blades and airfoil aerodynamics from the NACA 4415 was
force into the airframe. Furthermore, one rotor blade has to used to apply the performance estimation equations [25],
flip 180 from vertical to horizontal flight mode assuming which are based on Glauert’s hypothesis. First of all, the
that a symmetric airfoil is used. The two front propellers required power Ph for hovering is needed and then the
generate thrust for horizontal flight and can be vertically Power loading for axial climb power Pc can be computed
tilted for hovering and axial climb. In Fig. 16, the two by [26]
propeller modes are visualized and the motor and payload
W0 W0
¼ rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !: ð5Þ
 ffi
gimbal are also marked in gray. Furthermore, a modular
Pc;0 2
payload arrangement can be achieved and the gimbals Ph  H_ vertical
þ H_ vertical
þ1
2wdownwash 2wdownwash
individually customized. Additionally, a green propulsion
system is assumed.
Figure 17 shows the resulting essential design limits
4.2 Design chart with power loading PL plotted against wing loading WL in
an aircraft design chart. The optimum design point out of
In order to estimate an initial power demand and wing this study is:
layout parameters, a design chart was applied. The differ- • WL = 370 N/m2
ent point performance design limits for horizontal and • PL = 0.0401 N/W.

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 S. Herbst et al.

4.3 Stability and control

The stability and control in horizontal flight mode is similar

to default fixed-wing configurations. Roll, yaw, and pitch
moments are generated by the ailerons, rudders and hori-
zontal tails which are single-blade variable pitch rotors.
In vertical flight, the configuration subjects to the con-
trol laws of a quadcopter. In hover condition, the sum of
thrust equals the weight and the balance of pitching
moments depends on the lever arms a and b with corre-
sponding forces.
Fig. 17 Essential aircraft design chart limits X
W¼ T ð6Þ
1:4
A design chart containing all limits is presented in X
Appendix Fig. 23. Resultant power and wing parameters 0¼ M ¼ a  ðT1 þ T2 Þ  b  ðT3 þ T4 Þ: ð7Þ
1:4
are as follows:
Figure 20 shows a mechanical spare model with the
• P = 36,7 KW
balance of forces for hovering. An advantage of the long
• Sref = 3.98 m2
aft fuselage is that the required thrust can decrease in so far
• b = 8.22 m
as the sum of thrust equals the weight.
• cr = 0.6 m
In order to compensate the rotor torque, the front and
• ct = 0.123 m
also the aft ones rotate contrary (see Fig. 21 and Eq. 8). By
The required thrust for the SEP limit is T = 865.7 N consistent power, a yaw moment can be realized by dif-
(see Appendix Fig. 24). By applying a propeller modeling ferential control of the rotors rotational speed. An occur-
tool [27] which is based on the methods of Adkins and ring change in thrust has be compensated.
Liebeck, an optimum propeller blade geometry layout can Q1 ¼ Q2 ; Q3 ¼ Q4 ð8Þ
be determined. Figures 18 and 19 visualize the propeller
blade angle and relative chord length distribution for a
radius R = 0.5 m and N = 3 blades. Horizontal tail sta-
bility requirements are neglected at this conceptual design
level.

Fig. 20 Balance of forces in hover condition

Fig. 18 Propeller blade angle distribution

Fig. 19 Propeller geometry Fig. 21 Balance of torque

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Conceptual design studies of vertical takeoff and landing remotely piloted aircraft systems…

fixed-wing configuration with additive thrust devices for

VTOL capabilities. In order to generate the design space, a
morphologic box is derived which points out the pros and
cons of several design possibilities.
Finally, a new VTOL design which fulfills the point
performance requirements is proposed. It consists of two
tilting propellers in the nose of a split fuselage and two
Fig. 22 Forces for roll maneuver supplemental propellers on top of the vertical tail serving
contemporary as horizontal tail. As a result of the design
chart for vertical and horizontal flight, an initial power
In contrast to an average quadcopter, the roll and pitch demand and wing geometry layout have been determined.
maneuvers are not the same for this configuration. That is Furthermore, an analysis of the stability and control char-
caused by the asymmetry in x-direction with the different acteristics has been accomplished.
propellers or rotors. Consequently, a roll moment is gen- In order to specify the initial power and geometry layout
erated by different sums of thrust (see Fig. 22): in more detail, aerodynamic and performance calculations
T1 þ T4 6¼ T2 þ T3 ð9Þ have to be done. They should include the influence of low
Reynolds and mach numbers, as well as several airfoil data
As a result, the torque is in nonequilibrium and a yaw for the wing and propeller design. Furthermore, an aero-
maneuver will be performed simultaneously. To avoid this, dynamic and mechanic design of the supplemental rotors
a control strategy has to be developed. serving as horizontal tails has to be done in order to achieve
a static stable configuration in horizontal flight as well as
fulfilling all vertical flight performance requirements.
5 Conclusions and outlook Additionally, a more detailed weight estimation has to
be performed for the purpose of performance trade-off
Spurred by the rapid progress in sensor development, calculations and different payload conditions. Corre-
plenty of use cases for RPAS arise. Two of them are the sponding to this, a structural design regarding the high
described hybrid scenarios in the context of search-and- required load factors is necessary.
rescue missions in alpine regions. A set of mission Furthermore, an investigation on the mission perfor-
requirements for a VTOL RPAS is defined. They include mance is needed, to see whether it is possible to fly without
performance, payload, stability and control, as well as fossil fuels or to determine a degree of hybridization.
emission aspects. Regarding the propulsion system, a noise emission calcu-
As part of the conceptual design phase, a market survey lation has to be done as well because of the potentially high
on existing VTOL RPAS and concepts has been performed. loaded propeller blades and their influence on the certifi-
In total, 13 different designs have been analyzed and cation of this new challenging aircraft configuration.
clustered into four categories. The most promising one is a

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 Appendix 1: State-of-the-art VTOL RPAS

See Table 3.

123
Table 3 Technical data of current VTOL RPAS
Wing Range Endurance Airspeed Ceiling MTOW Payload Engine type Engine Energy storage Propulsion type Propulsion
area (km) (h) (m/s) (m) (kg) (kg) number number
(m2)

Dos Samara [8] 2.7 750 20 0–51 C5500 66 18 E-motor 1 Battery Split wing propeller; 2, 1
propeller
Tazenflugel [8] 2.6 750 20 0–51 C5500 64 18 Hybrid (engine/e- 1, 1 Hybrid Propeller 2
motor) (kerosene/battery)
Trifecta [9] 2.5 750 20 0–51 C5500 120 27 Hybrid (engine/e- 1, 1 Hybrid Tilt propeller; 1, 2
motor) (kerosene/battery) propeller
Tilt Duct UAV [10] 1.8 C1000 0–75 C2000 103 8 Two-stroke piston 2, 1 Kerosene Tilt ducted propeller; 2, 1
engines (18 kW and ducted propeller
3 kW)
Quad Tilt Wing [20] Tilt wing propeller 4
X-50A [17, 18] 662 Turbofan engine 1 Kerosene Jet engine; rotor blade 1, *
tip valves
T-Wing [21] 30 Two-stroke engine 2 Kerosene Propeller 2
Eagle Eye [11, 12] 1482 6 0–103 9096 1000 91 Turboshaft engine 1 Kerosene Tilt propeller 2
(478 kW @ takeoff)
Project Zero [19] Hybrid (engine/e- Hybrid Tilt ducted propeller 2
motor) (kerosene/battery)
Wingcopter [15] 0.13–0.33 2.4 0.4 Battery Tilt propeller 4
Excalibur [13, 14] 3 (0) 12192 1180 Hybrid (engine/e- 1, 1 Hybrid Tilt jet engine; ducted 1, 3
51–206 motor) (kerosene/battery) propeller
Tricopter [16] 1 10 1.2 0.15 E-motor 3 Battery Tilt propeller 3
Schiebel – 80 [6 62 200 50 Rotary engine 1 Kerosene Rotor 1
CAMCOPTER
S-100 [22]
S. Herbst et al.
Conceptual design studies of vertical takeoff and landing remotely piloted aircraft systems…

Appendix 2: Conceptual design study ‘‘Janus’’

See Figs. 23 and 24.

Fig. 23 Aircraft design chart limits

Fig. 24 Aircraft design chart limits (horizontal flight)

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