Meso-scale Mission Adaptive Compliant Wing

Micro and meso-scale UAVs experience severe performance degradation, compared to their full-scale cousins, due to their unique flow environment that is conducive to formation of laminar separation bubbles causing significant profile drag. This is particularly true for the UAVs in the size range between Black Widow and Silver Fox (approximate Reynolds number range from 50,000 to 300,000; with typical wing spans from 0.5- 5ft). In Phase I, we developed an Active Boundary Layer Excitation (ABLE) system and experimentally demonstrated significant reduction of the laminar separation bubble near predicted frequencies of excitation. In Phase II, we propose to further develop our ABLE system and reap additional gains in Lift-to-Drag ratio. Using our patented Mission Adaptive Compliant Wing technology, up to 80% improvement in L/D and 30% improvement in endurance over present day meso-scale UAVs is within reach. Extensive water tunnel and wind tunnel testing will be performed to compare results to computational predictions and evolve the aerodynamic efficiency improvement. Power, weight and packaging constraints will be given utmost consideration. As pioneers in compliant structures technology, we have a proven record of design, fabrication and testing of such innovative devices. The results will benefit both fixed wing and rotary wing UAVs.