Design Process for Micro Air Vehicles

摘要

Resent evolution in electronics and sensor techniques allowed realization of Micro Air Vehicles (MAY), with commercial of the shelves (COST). In order to obtain an optimal solution regarding the MAV, and due to the complexity and rapid change in electronics, an automatic or semi-automatic design process needs to be developed. This paper will present a semi-automatic design process integrating the electronics, and optimising its placement in the MAV with regards to payload, mission profile and recent developments within electronics and materials. The design will be readjusted when new components are available. The process will also take care of the flying platform itself, regarding the shape, the aerodynamics and the performance. By reducing the human presence in the design process, design time will be reduced For the design of new products, the designer specifies different requirements, such as wingspan, mission profile including endurance, range, and payload specification. The design process will then try to automatically generate the best feasible MAV for this particular mission, based on pre-defined set of available technologies. The search technique for the MAV design is based on genetic algorithms. This design process could also include trend studies of technologies for future improvements of the MAV evolution. As realization of the result of the process if of great importance, it will automatically generate production documents like Computerised Numerical Control (CNC) paths for both the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) layout and wing profile-forming tools. The automatic generation of the control software is also included.