Of all the aerofoil mentioned, research has proven that W.E 3.55-9.3, aerofoil has been most e cient in low altitude long endurance solar UAV applications [5, 17]. ... ... To achieve these goals, the UAV design has been substantially explored. At the moment, UAVs can last for more than a day .
A novel framework for the design of a low altitude long endurance solar-powered UAV for multiple-day flight is developed in that optimizes the wing airfoil, along with wing, horizontal and vertical tail geometry.
In the proposed framework, the airfoil design is integrated into solar UAV design. Airfoil is also considered a design variable along with wingspan, chord, horizontal and vertical tail span, chord and axial location of the tail assembly. Hence, it is possible to design airfoil considering the overall performance of the UAV.
A solar-powered mini-UAV has been designed for long-endurance performance at low altitude, reflecting practical constraints from preceding experience of authors. The parametric analysis of the solar-power propulsion system is the primary interest of the present study, along with the power requirement estimation of the aircraft design.
The UAV was launched for flight trials on 9 July 2010, and stayed aloft for 14 nights (336 h 22 min) at an altitude of 70,740 ft (21,561 m) above the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Sky-Sailor , Solong , and AtlantikSolar are examples of low altitude long endurance solar UAVs.
The optimized airfoil showed an increase of 13% in the lift-to-drag ratio. The authors in also used the genetic algorithm to optimize solar-powered UAV airfoil to maximize the radiation incidence and lift coefficient and minimize the drag by lift ratio.