SkyTote Advanced Cargo Delivery System

Abstract

SkyTote is a novel approach to precision delivery of cargo within a limited region. The basic idea is to minimize ground surface transportation, thus reducing congestion in metropolitan areas. It was originally conceived as an airborne conveyor belt that would use a vertical takeoff and landing capability to minimize ground handling. The full-size vehicle was seen as having a payload of 400 pounds that would be slung beneath the vehicle. This allows quick transfer of cargo and also makes the system compatible with hazardous materials. A scaled concept demonstrator has been produced and is about to be flown by the contractor, AeroVironment Inc of Monrovia CA, as part of a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research contract. The concept demonstrator is a "tail-sitter" configuration and utilizes coaxial, counter-rotating rotors powered by a liquid-cooled UAV Engines Ltd. AR 801 engine. A relatively large cruciform tail provides directional control in the airplane mode as well as serving as landing gear in the helicopter mode.For the demonstrator, cargo is carried internally in order to simplify the dynamics during the concept demonstration. Transition between hovering flight and wing-borne flight will be the main focus of the initial flight test series. Vehicle performance requirements for the demonstrator were set at a 200-mile range at speeds up to 175 knots. Flight test will be performed later this year to evaluate the basic vehicle concept. The next steps will be to address such system requirements as cargo handling, air traffic control and system safety. The design scales well with available engines and several military uses are apparent for both larger and a system and the objectives of e flight test program.

Modeling and control of a quadrotor tail-sitter unmanned aerial vehicles

“…Research on tail-sitting aircrafts started since the middle of last century. However, the development of this kind of aircrafts is hindered because of the limitation of automation level and pilot’s perspective until the success of SkyTote, 9 a coaxial twin rotors tai-sitter UAV developed by Air Force Research Laboratory in 1990s. The key points of the tail-sitter UAVs are transitions between hover and level flight modes and the stability during hovering.…”

Modeling and control of an agile tail-sitter aircraft

“…These aircrafts can be considered hybrid helicopter/fixed-wing aircrafts and have higher rotor disk loadings. In the tail-sitter aircrafts, a novel unmanned aircraft called SkyTote has been designed [18][19][20][21][22].…”

Wind Tunnel Evaluation of Powered Static Aerodynamics of an Aerobatic UAV

“…One is therefore interested in engineering analysis of off-the-shelf aerobatic hobby-type propeller-driven aircraft, conceptually recast as an aerobatic UAV. A second application would be aircraft capable of hover with a propeller or rotor, transitioning to wingborne flight for cruise (such as "Skytote"; Cord 1 ). This can conceptually be modeled by hobby-type propeller aircraft with thrust to weight ration greater than one.…”