Conceptual Approach for Design, Fabrication and Testing of Indoor Remotely Controlled Airship

Motiwala, Nawaz; Khan, Irshad Ahmed; Yelve, Nitesh P.; Narkhede, Balkrishna E.; Pant, Rajkumar S.

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.690-693.3390

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The statistical data of different aerostat fins are also extracted from available images to obtain the initial fin size, similar to previous approaches (Pant, 2003; Motiwala et al , 2013). The fin root chord RC , fin span Sp and fin location l f is calculated as the ratio of aerostat length.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of hull fineness ratio and fin parameters on the optimization of tethered aerostat

Mahmood

Ismail

2021

AEAT

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Purpose This paper aims to optimize the mass of a tethered aerostat to achieve optimum hull volume, and fins to generate aerodynamic lift to reduce the blow-by. Design/methodology/approach The design code of aerostat involving structure, aerostatics, aerodynamics and stability has been developed using MATLAB®. The design code is used to obtain the baseline configuration for a tactical aerostat mission by using the statistical values of the hull fineness ratio and the fin parameters of in-service aerostats. The effect of the design variables that include the hull fineness ratio, fin area and fin position on the aerostat mass and blow-by is determined through sensitivity analysis. The aerostat is optimized with an objective function of minimization of mass for the bounded values of design variables and taking blow-by limit as a constraint. Findings This study reveals that the simultaneous optimization of the aerostat hull fineness ratio, fin area and fin position results in an improvement in the design. The aerostat design with optimum values of these parameters helps in a reduction in its size and mass without compromising the blow-by limits. Research limitations/implications This study has been conducted by keeping the hull shape constant by selecting standard National Physics Laboratory envelope shape. The aerodynamic model used in the design code is based on empirical relationships that can be improved in future studies that can use high fidelity aerodynamic models using CFD based surrogate models. Originality/value The previous studies on optimization of aerostats are limited to hull envelope shape only, whereas this paper presents the optimization of the hull and fin together. The optimized configuration obtained has a reduced mass and can operate within the specified blow-by limits.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of hull fineness ratio and fin parameters on the optimization of tethered aerostat

Mahmood

Ismail

2021

AEAT

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“…The two other fins were mounted horizontally in a symmetric fashion. The fins were sized to provide adequate stability characteristics; the sizing procedure is based on the statistical data of eleven airships, as described by Motiwala et al [15].…”

Section: B Stabilizersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Flight Testing of an Autonomous Airship

Santos

García

Cunha

et al. 2015

22nd AIAA Lighter-Than-Air Systems Technology Conference

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This paper investigates the performance of an airship controller designed to impart autonomous control ability to an airship fitted with three fixed BLDC motors and propellers. An existing airship designed primarily for indoor flights was chosen as a platform for mounting and testing this control system for autonomous operations. The subsystems of this airship are described, and details of an autopilot and waypoint navigation system are presented. An open source flight controller for UAVs was adapted for airships, and a Hardware-In-the-Loop simulation was carried out to validate it. The performance of this controller was tested in a few outdoor flight tests. It was seen that autonomous flight was possible, including an autonomous takeoff, but since the airship was underpowered, the ability of the airship to maintain the desired flight path was poor. However, this study established that, in principle, it is possible to provide some autonomous capability to an airship by suitably adapting a flight controller designed for UAVs.

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Conceptual Approach for Design, Fabrication and Testing of Indoor Remotely Controlled Airship

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

The effect of hull fineness ratio and fin parameters on the optimization of tethered aerostat

The effect of hull fineness ratio and fin parameters on the optimization of tethered aerostat

Design and Flight Testing of an Autonomous Airship

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