Design and Development of an Unmanned Aerial Cargo Vehicle Using Additive Manufacturing

Due to the rising need of the fast delivery among the many e-commerce companies, the possibility of introducing unmanned aerial cargo vehicle as a door-to-door delivery option is very much viable to the significant number of the delivery service industry in coming future. The introduction of unmanned aerial cargo vehicle technology can also help in reducing the CO2 emission in the delivery service industry. The purpose of the research is to design and develop a model for the UACV and to study the effect of different design parameters on the performance of the aerial cargo vehicle. The mathematical modeling of the UACV with a load-carrying capacity of up to 350 gms helps to select the effect of design parameters. The model of its rotational, linear dynamics has been done using Simulink, and the PID control system was integrated into a model. The study was done on its attitude and altitude control. The aerial vehicle frame parts were designed considering the structural and aerodynamic stability of the aerial cargo vehicle using SolidWorks and analysis performed using Ansys 18.0 and Autodesk fusion. The material study performed for the design using Pugh’s method for the additive manufacturing of the UACV. The most significant results mainly discuss the payload effect on the frame design and the effect on the control system of the UACV. The study definitively answers the effects of the environmental disturbances and the payload effect in the design of unmanned aerial cargo vehicle frames and its control systems.