Multidisciplinary Design and Prototype Development of a Very Small Remotely-Piloted Reconnaissance Airplane

The multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) methodology is employed for the design of a very small remotely-piloted airplane for a reconnaissance mission. The airplane configuration established at the conceptual design level is optimized for minimum size subject to performance, stability, weight, and dimension constraints. The constrained optimization problem is solved using the extended interior penalty function method based on finite-difference approximations of the sensitivity derivatives. The MDO-based design is validated both analytically and through the development and flight testing of a prototype airplane.