Vertical Takeoff UAV Conceptual Designs and their Key Technologies

In 2005, the Office of Naval Research sponsored a nine month long study to examine candidate concepts for a vertical take-off Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for the US Marine Corps. The objective of the study was to identify the key and enabling technologies which would provide substantial improvement in performance and could be transitioned to future UAV systems. The first task of the study was to develop a notional set of capabilities defining how the Marine Corps may use a future UAV system. The next task of the study was to investigate potential concepts and technologies and select promising ones which have bearing on the study area of interest. A tilt rotor, a fan-in-wing, and a stopped rotor concept were selected as candidate concepts along with numerous technologies. The third task was to create baseline conceptual designs for the selected concepts. The final task was to apply technologies to determine the technology impact on the designs. The study showed that advanced engines, new structures/construction methods, internal/conformal sensors, and compact hybrid actuators were key technologies for this application.