• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.458-465
• /
• 2011

UAV-UGV teaming concept has been proposed that can compensate for weak points of each platform by providing carrying, launching, recovery and recharging capability for the VTOL-UAV through the host UGV. The teaming concept can expand the observation envelop of the UGV and extend the operational capability of the UAV through mechanical combination of each system. The spherical-shaped coaxial rotorcraft UAV is suggested to provide flexible and precise interface between two systems. Hybrid navigation solution that included vision-based target tracking method for precision landing is investigated and its experimental study is performed. Feasibility study on length-variable rotor to provide the compact configuration of the loaded rotorcraft platform is also described.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.75-84
• /
• 2021

The authors had presented two previous papers[1,2] on Helicopter/Rotorcraft develoment in Europe and US. Meanwhile, the next generation rotorcrafts, currently under development in US and Europe, have new configurations (tilt-rotor, coaxial, compound) of rotor-type vertical takeoff/landing rotorcrafts to overcome the disadvantages of traditional helicopters. For developing these new types of rotorcrafts, the upgraded conceptual design/comprehensive programs are required. In US and Europe, they are already developing new program tools with their technologies and database obtained during more than last half centuries. For us, many academia, research institutes and industrial engineers have experienced and developed core technologies on rotorcrafts (aerodynamics, structural analysis, flight dynamics, and noise analysis etc.) comparable to US and Europe during last couple of decades of developing helicopters and various configurations of rotorcrafts. In this paper, the pros and cons of conceptual design/comprehensive tools currently used in US and Europe have been summarized. Furthermore, the possibilities and problems to develope our own design and analysis tools have been studied.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
• /
• v.48 no.12
• /
• pp.997-1004
• /
• 2020

A synchropter is a type of rotorcraft in which a pair of blades inclined with each other rotates in synchronization. Removing the tail rotor enables an efficient and compact configuration similar to a coaxial-rotor helicopter. This paper describes the design and flight test results of a small synchropter to examine the suitability of a drone system for the army. The synchropter in this paper is a small vehicle with a rotor diameter of 1.4m and a weight of 7kg and was assembled based on commercial parts to examine flight characteristics effectively. The flight control system adopted Pixhawk, which is designed based on an open-architecture. The model-based design technique is applied to develop the control law of the synchropter and a new firmware embedded on the Pixhawk. Through qualitative flight tests, we analyzed the flight characteristics. As a result of the analysis, we confirmed the possibility of application as a drone system of the synchropter.