G-1 UAV Mk.1
​Originally inspired at the Gemini V-2 made by the great guys of Bearospace industries, the G-1 is designed with the intent of obtaining:
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A flying platform able to accommodate Ardupilot / Pixhawk control and navigation systems;
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Endurance of a day of flight with solar panels;
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A flying platform sufficiently solid to allow experiments with different batteries, electric motors, propellers, to study the interaction of all the components once installed;
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Essential aircraft architecture, to have a direct comparison with simple and immediate theoretical prediction models.
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A fuselage vane near the CG of the aircraft for any useful payload, to limit the CG position excursion.
The unusual flight endurance was the most challenging constrain of the design, from this need in fact derive the dimensions above the lines of this UAV that must mediate between the need to have as much wing surface as possible to accommodate numerous solar panels, but the minimum overall dimensions to minimize the empty weight of the aircraft, and therefore the power required to fly.
Hence, the result is the consequence of a first theoretical estimate on data taken a priori that led to this machine still to be perfected.
The fuselage is built using a plywood shell, with cross section of 80x80 mm. These dimensions allow to have a reduced frontal section but at the same time allow easy access to all the compartments and sufficient ease to all the on-board electronics. Plywood is also a rough material ideal for landings on unprepared surfaces, economical yet very stiff.
Wings were built starting from a polystyrene body shaped according to the NACA23015 airfoil, reinforced with two 0.5mm balsa wood slabs applied on the top and on the bottom of the polystyrene wing core. The wingspan is 4200 mm and the root chord is 300 mm, with a taper ratio of 0,5.
For simplicity, no wing twist nor dihedral was included to keep the number of variables of the design (and so the complexity) as minimal as possible.
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The free, directly-irradiated by the sun surface is about 1 square meter. This means that is possible to install on the G-1 an array of solar panels generating up to 200W in maximum irradiation conditions.The panels will be installed as soon as the flight tests have confirmed the possibility of flying at maximum efficiency with about 100W of power absorbed by the motor, or when the entire aircraft will have demonstrated a flight efficiency of about 20 at the cruising airspeed of 10 m/s. (Design data)
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Various studies can now be started to improve flight performances and reach the goal of 12h endurance.
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Technical data
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Weight:
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Maximum take-off mass (MTOM): 4.00 kg
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Zero payload and full "fuel" take-off mass: 3.5 kg
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Maximum payload mass: 0.5 kg in the 80x80x150 mm payload vane
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Wing data:
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Wingspan: 4.2 m
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Airfoil NACA 23015
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Dihedral angle: 0°
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Root to tip twist: 0°
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Taper ratio: 0.5
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Performance (ISA conditions)
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Design loiter airspeed: 10 m/s
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Maximum endurance @ loiter airspeed(current version): 20 min
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Hardware:
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Battery: Li-Po 3S, 4000 mAh
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ESC: 60A
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Motor: 1100 kV, 700 W
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Propeller: APC 13x3.8
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