Urban Cargo Transport UAV Final Design Review

Delivery of goods to homes and offices over the last decades has seen a significant increase as more people and businesses need or want items sent directly to them. With the increase in demand, technology has also experienced a rapid growth, specifically in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Many major companies are currently researching UAVs as the future of their delivery operations. With this ever-growing demand, NASA has issued a design competition of a UAV developed for urban deliveries. This unmanned aircraft system (UAS) would need to be able to deliver small packages, in a timely manner, within the city they operate. They must be able to drop off two lightweight packages to destinations without human intervention. They must be safe for the citizens of the cities they operate in and output low levels of sound as to not add to the noise pollution (4.4 Design Requirements and Specifications:). Various areas of development needed to be considered and analyzed. The UAV body has fixed wings with a boom-tail design and a multi-rotor configuration for the motors (Figure 7). The body of the aircraft underwent analysis in SolidWorks to gather data of its aerodynamics (5.3 Computational Fluid Simulation). With this analysis, the MH-83-iL airfoil was chose to best suit the needs of this craft (3.2.1 Main Airfoil). Through wing loading analysis, NRT’s UAV would be able to fly at cruising speed of 27 knots and have a 0.08 thrust. Other aspects to consider included control systems, budgetary analysis, and government regulations. Controls systems provide data and insurance for collision avoidance, altitude readings, thermal sensors, and GPS guidance. These systems as well as a safety parachute allow for maximum performance and precaution to help integrate it into urban life. The cost of the aircraft (4.7 Budget) comes out to roughly $1700 given our required body, systems, and propulsion systems. Lastly, government regulations with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provide guidelines for registering and flying UAVs in urban environments. Working closely with the FAA would be required to ensure all federal laws are abided by. The development of and advancement of the urban air mobility (UAM) can provide a more efficient and cost-effective means of delivering packages for companies throughout the nation. This can be achieved with computational and budgetary analysis that best optimize UAV, along with proper safety and government regulations, for company use