Unmanned aerial vehicle derivative design optimization based on light sport aircraft

Manufacturers often develop new products by modifying and extending existing products in order to achieve new market demands while minimizing development time and manufacturing costs. In this research, an efficient derivative design process was developed to efficiently adapt existing aircraft designs according to new requirements. The proposed design process was evaluated using a case study that derives an unmanned aerial vehicle design from a baseline manned 2-seatlight sport aircraft. Multiple unmanned aerial vehicle operational scenarios were analysed to define the requirements of the derivative aircraft. These included patrol, environmental monitoring, and communications relay missions. Each mission has different requirements and therefore each resulting derivative unmanned aerial vehicle design has different geometry, devices, and performance. The derivative design process involved redefining the design requirements and identifying the minimum design variable set that needed to be considered in order...