NCHU V/STOL UAV

NCHU V/STOL UAVs are several Chinese UAVs developed by Nanchang Hangkong University (NCHU), most of which are experimental aircraft used to explore different V/STOL technologies, and some of these UAVs are used to explore aircraft carrier landing technologies.

Flourish UAV

Flourish General Aviation UAV (Chang-Sheng Tong-yong Wu-Ren-ji or Changsheng Tongyong Wurenji, 昌盛通用无人机) is an experimental UAV developed by NCHU to gain knowledge in aircraft carrier landing. The existence of Flourish UAV is revealed to the public in 2011 when it won a first place in an UAV competition held in Beijing that year.[1] Flourish UAV has conventional layout and is powered electrically, and it adopts a combination of remote control and autonomous control to ensure successful carrier landing.[2] Specification:[3]

• Wingspan (m): 2.4
• Length (m): 1.9
• Max speed (km/h): 140
• Endurance (min): 40
• Ceiling (km): 3
• Max take-off weight (kg): 14
• Payload (kg): 3
• Propulsion: electric motor

Flying Pack Horse

Flying Pack Horse (Fei-Xing Tuo-Ma, 飞行驮马) UAV is a VTOL UAV developed by NCHU. Originally developed in August 2013 as a team project of a group of three NCHU students including Mr. Chen Shi-Wei (陈世威), Mr. Hao Xian-Ping (郝宪平) and Mr. Duan Jin-Tan (段进坦) as their graduation project, the future potential of the design was realized by others and NCHU decided to continue the project, which was overtaken by a new team of NCHU students headed by Mr. Tan Chao (谭超) and Mr. Yang Dai-Jing (杨代京). Flying Pack Hore is powered by three rotors, and the tailrotor is slightly larger than the other two to achieve better flight control and stability in flight. Specification:[4]

• Length (m): 1.3
• Width (m): 1.2
• Height (m): 0.2

G 20

G 20 UAV is a fixed wing UAV developed by NCHU and the general designer is Yan Zhao-Wu (闫兆武). Like Flourish, another UAV developed by NCHU, G20 is also originally intended to explore aircraft carrier landing technology. Unlike other Chinese UAVs including Flourish UAV described above, which are used to explore different control method for landing on aircraft carrier, G 20 UAV is mainly intended to test out the design of arresting hook itself and associated arresting wires, which could be used for land based UAV to reduce landing distance. Development of G 20 took ten months, and with the exception of the general designer, all other members of the design team are NCHU students. G 20 is in conventional layout with high wing configuration. Propulsion is provided by a two-blade propeller driven tractor engine mounted in the nose. G 20 has tricycle landing gear and utilizes differential GPS (DGPS) technology for navigation, and it can cruise as low as twenty meters above ground. G 20 has two hardpoints, which can be used either to drop emergency medication during disaster relief, or to drop small caliber munitions. Thanks to its DGPS technology, G 20 can accurately airdrop its load within ±10 meter. Specification:[5]

• Length (m): 2.1
• Wingspan (m): 2.8
• Height (m): 0.7
• Payload (kg): 1.2
• Max take-off weight (kg): 20
• Normal operating altitude (m): 0.5 – 300
• Ceiling (km): 3
• Max wind speed allowed for operation (m/s): 5 (crosswind), 6 (tailwind), and 7 (headwind)
• Rate of climb (m/s): 8
• Max speed (m/s): 40
• Cruise speed (m/s): 22 – 30
• Remote control range (km): 15
• Launch: taxiing
• Recovery: arresting wire

HQT-1 Black Dragonfly

HQT-1 Black Dragonfly (Hei-Qing-Ting 1 or Heiqingting 1, 黑蜻蜓) is an octocopter developed by NCHU. The designation of this UAV comes from the abbreviation of its name by taking the first alphabet of each Chinese character of its name in Pinyin. The electrically powered octocopter is priced at ¥ 50,000 each, and is remotely controlled. HQT-1 is mainly intended for agricultural applications such crop dusting, and it is capable of dusting half a decare to a decare per minute. HQT-1 is specially designed for ease of use and operator only needs a brief training of three days to be qualified. A unique feature of HQT-1 is in its landing gear, which consists three vertical legs, as opposed to the most commonly adopted landing gears of a pair of skids or four legs.[6]

New Era

New Era (Xin-Ji-Yuan or Xinjiyuan, 新纪元) UAV is an VTOL experimental aircraft designed by a team of three NCHU students including Mr. Li Dai-Zong (黎岱宗), Mr. Wu Bing (吴斌), and Mr. Duan Jin-Dan (段进坦, who was also a member of the design team of Flying Pack Horse UAV described above). New Era made its public debut in 2012 at the Fifth Innovation Cup future aircraft design competition. New Era is a unique UAV in that it combines cyclogyro and fan wing designs.[7]

Stroller 1

Stroller 1 (Man-Bu-Zhe Yi-Hao or Manbuzhe Yihao, 漫步者1号) is a unique VTOL UAV in that it somewhat resembles a cross between a blimp and a multirotor. The upper half portion of the UAV is a ballonet filled with helium gas to provide the main lift. Six arms are attached to the base of the ballonet, and a rotor is attached to the end of four of the six arms. These four rotors provides some additional lift during take-off, but mostly, they provide controls in flight. There are two tiltrotor mounted at the end of the remaining two arms respectively, one on each arm. These two tiltrotor provides the main thrust in level flight, in addition to that provided by the four rotors. According to the designer Mr. Liu Shi-Luan (刘诗鸾), the advantage of this design includes low cost, saving fuel, and heavier payload.[4]

Tilt Ducted Fan UAV

Tilt Ducted Fan UAV is an experimental UAV developed by NCHU to explore new ways of achieving VTOL. Tilt Ducted Fan UAV adopts an airframe similar to that of Lockheed Martin RQ-3 DarkStar but with V-tail added. There are a total of four engines, all of which are ducted fans. The two of the three smaller ones are mounted near the wingtips respectively, and the third one is mounted in thenose. These three smaller engines are fixed and provide lift during takeoff and landing. The fourth engine is a large one mounted in the fuselage near the V-tail, and this engine can tilt as needed. During the takeoff, the large engine is positioned just like the remaining three smaller ones providing major lift, and once airborne, the larger engine would tilt 90 degree to provide thrust in level flight. The process is reversed during landing operations. The complete name NCHU gives to this Tilt Ducked Fan UAV is New Type Multifunctional Tilt Ducked Fan UAV (Xin-Xing Duo-Gong-Neng Qing-Xie-Zhuan Han-Dao Wu-Ren-Ji, 新型多功能倾转涵道无人机)[8]

Urban Goblin

Urban Goblin (Du-Shi Jing-Ling or Dushijingling, 都市精灵) is a VTOL UAV with three ducted fans. What is unusual about unlike most aircraft with ducted fans where all ducted fans are same sized, ducted fans of Urban Goblin are not the same size. Out of three ducted fans of Urban Goblin, two small ones are the same size and attached to the main ducted fan, which is much larger. All three ducted fans are equipped with two blade rotors. Specification:[9]

• diameter of ducted fan (m): 1.2
• Length (m): 2.12
• Width (m): 1.933
• Empty weight (kg): 15
• Max take-off weight (kg): 35
• Endurance (h): 1
• Speed (km/h): 50
• Ceiling (km): 3

VTOL UAV

VTOL UAV (Chui-Zhi Qi-Jiang Wu-Ren-Ji, 垂直起降无人机) is a very little known VTOL UAV currently under development by NCHU. It is intended for various missions such as aerial photography, cinematography, surveying, advertisement, communication relay and air drop of emergency medication during disaster relief. Standard equipment include visible light camera and imaging infrared camera.[10]

See also

• List of unmanned aerial vehicles of the People's Republic of China

References

1. Flourish unmanned aerial vehicle
2. Flourish UAV
3. Flourish
4. "NCHU UAVs". Retrieved 2013-10-23.
5. G 20
6. HQT-1
7. New Era
8. Tilt Ducted Fan UAV
9. Urban Goblin
10. VTOL UAV