The United States Naval Research Laboratory has developed a unique flying circuit board unmanned aircraft, named the CICADA (Close-in Covert Autonomous Disposable Aircraft). Each CICADA is fully autonomous, flying independently to a user-specified GPS location to deliver a small sensor suite. Pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors and an integrated RF system provide concept mission demonstration, measuring weather conditions in-flight and on the ground. Further, the CICADA is designed to stack in high volumetric density (32x) into a standard Navy Size-A Sonobuoy tube and be mass-deployed. Low cost is a goal alongside high quantity, so CICADA uses the circuit board manufacturing process for both electrical and structural fabrication. Each CICADA costs on the order of $250, owing to the multifunctional circuit board for avionics and flight structures, as well as low human touch-time. This paper covers the design, fabrication, wind tunnel testing, control system, launch canister system, and flight-testing of the CICADA design. Over 250 flight-tests were carried out during development at altitudes up to 8kft and in quantities up to 10x simultaneously, each carrying a meteorological sensor and RF system, and proves the viability of a flying circuit board carrying out a useful mission.
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