This paper presents some aspects of aproject devoted to conceptual and preliminarydesign of a specialized UAV to be used foroperation in windy, turbulent environment of theAntarctic coast for monitoring of penguins.Among important design goals were high wingloading - responsible for low sensitivity to gustand low weight-to-power ratio – important forhigh excess of power and quicker recovery fromdiving, pull-up and other manoeuvres. Thedesign process is treated as an interdisciplinaryapproach, and includes a selection of thicklaminar wing section, aerodynamic optimizationof swept wing, stability analysis, weightbalance, structural and aeroelastic analysis,many on-board redundant systems, reliabilityand maintainability analysis, safetyimprovement, cost and performanceoptimization. Research effort focuses mainly onplatform design, selection of its external layout,control devices, structural design and on-boardequipment.
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