A Systems Approach to Model the Conceptual Design Process of Vertical Take Off Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (VTUAV)

UAVs are emerging as the next generation of airborne scouting assets due to their ability to penetrate deep into enemy airspace, plod on designated target areas, detecting mortal weapons and conducting damage appraisals. The major developments of UAVs thus far have been fixed-wing focussed. The missions envisaged for UAVs require a rotary-wing component for missions beyond the scope of fixed-wing UAVs. Rotary-wing UAVs also referred as "Vertical Takeoff UAVs" (VTUAVs) are presently in advanced research and development stages, to address the operational gaps of UAV deployment. To meet the mission requirements, state-of-the-art mission systems and autonomous systems, on-board fixed wing UAVs need to be investigated for application on VTUAVs. In this paper, the life-cycle of rotary-wing development is investigated from an independent viewpoint for the development of a modified architecture for VTUAVs design. The resulting architecture provides avenues of automation in the design process of rotary wing. Later, an advanced design framework is proposed which comprises of 'system-of-system' methodologies to develop an automated VTUAV design methodology.