Introduction to Unmanned Aircraf

Systems (UAS)
 It is an aircraf with its aircrew removed and replaced by a computer
system and a radio-link.
a) a control station (CS) which houses the system operators, the
interfaces between the operators and the rest of the system;
b) the aircraf carrying the payload which may be of many types;
c) the system of communication between the CS which transmits
control inputs to the aircraf and returns payload and other data
from the aircraf to the CS (this is usually achieved by radio
transmission);
d) support equipment which may include maintenance and transport
items.
 Some Applications of UAS(16M)
Civilian uses
1. Aerial photography •Film, video, still, etc Film, video, still, etc
2. Agriculture •Crop monitoring and spraying;
3. Coastguard •Search and rescue, coastline and sea-
lane monitoring
4. Conservation •Pollution and land monitoring
5. Customs and Excise •Surveillance for illegal imports
6. Electricity companies •Power line inspection
7. Fire Services and Forestry •Fire detection, incident control
8. Fisheries •Fisheries protection
9. Gas and oil supply •Land survey and pipeline security
companies •Search for missing persons, security and
10. Police Authorities incident surveillance
11. Rivers Authorities •Water course and level monitoring,
flood and pollution control
Military roles
Navy
• Shadowing enemy fleets
• Decoying missiles by the emission of artificial signatures
• Electronic intelligence
• Relaying radio signals
• Protection of ports from offshore attack
Army
• Reconnaissance
• Surveillance of enemy activity
• Monitoring of nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) contamination
• Electronic intelligence
• Target designation and monitoring
Air Force
• Long-range, high-altitude surveillance
• Radar system jamming and destruction
• Electronic intelligence
• Airfield base security
 Classification of Systems Based upon Air Vehicle
Types(16M)
 Although all UAV systems have many elements other than the air vehicle,
they are usually categorised by the capability or size of the air vehicle
that is required to carry out the mission.
• It is classified over a range of systems, from the HALE with an aircraf of
35 m or greater wing span, down to the NAV which may be of only 40
mm span.
i. HALE – High altitude long endurance. Over 15 000 m altitude and 24+ hr
endurance.
• They carry out extremely long-range (trans-global) reconnaissance and
surveillance and increasingly are being armed. They are usually
operated by Air Forces from fixed bases.
i. MALE – Medium altitude long endurance. 5000–15 000 m altitude and
24 hr endurance.
• Their roles are similar to the HALE systems but generally operate at
somewhat shorter ranges.
iii. TUAV – Medium Range or Tactical UAV with range of order between 100
and 300 m.
• These air vehicles are smaller and operated within simpler systems
than are HALE or MALE and are operated also by land and naval forces.
iv. Close-Range UAV. They usually operate at ranges of up to about 100 m.
• Used by mobile army battle groups, for other military/naval operations
and for diverse civilian purposes and have probably the most prolific of
uses in both fields, including roles as diverse as reconnaissance, target
designation, NBC monitoring, airfield security, ship-to-shore
surveillance, power-line inspection, crop-spraying and traffic
monitoring, etc.
v. MUAV or Mini UAV – relates to UAV of below a certain mass (yet to be
defined) probably below 20 kg, but not as small as the MAV.
• It is capable of being hand-launched and operating at ranges of up to
about 30 km. These are, again, used by mobile battle groups and
particularly for diverse civilian purposes.
vi. Micro UAV or MAV. The MAV was originally defined as a UAV having a
wing-span no greater than 150 mm.
vii. NAV – Nano Air Vehicles. These are proposed to be of the size of
sycamore seeds and used in swarms for purposes such as radar
confusion or conceivably, if camera, propulsion and control sub-systems
can be made small enough, for ultra-short range surveillance.
 Some of these categories – possibly up to the TUAV in size – can be
fulfilled using rotary wing aircraf, and are ofen referred to by the term
remotely piloted helicopter (RPH)
i. RPH, remotely piloted helicopter or VTUAV, vertical take-off UAV. If an
air vehicle is capable of vertical take-off it will usually be capable also
of a vertical landing,
• Rotary wing aircraf are also less susceptible to air turbulence compared
with fixed-wing aircraf of low wing-loading.
ii UCAV and UCAR. Development is also proceeding towards specialist
armed fixed-wing UAV which may launch weapons or even take part in
air-to-air combat. These are given the initials UCAV for unmanned
combat air vehicle. Armed rotorcraf are also in development and these
are known as UCAR for Unmanned Combat Rotorcraf.
 The need of UAV(ADVANTAGES)(16M)
 Unmanned aircraf will only exist if they offer advantage compared
with manned aircraf.
• An aircraf system is designed from the outset to perform a
particular role.
 The designer must decide
- the type of aircraf most suited to perform the role(s) and, in
particular,
- whether the role(s) may be better achieved with a manned
or unmanned solution.
 UAVs always have an advantage or disadvantage compared with
manned aircraf systems. It depends vitally on what the task is. An
old military adage (which also applies to civilian use) links the use
of UAVs to roles which are dull, dirty or dangerous (DDD).
Dull Roles
• Military and civilian applications such as extended surveillance can be a
dulling experience for aircrew.
 loss of concentration
 loss of mission effectiveness
• The UAV, with high resolution colour video, low light level TV, thermal
imaging cameras or radar scanning, can be more effective as well as
cheaper to operate in such roles.
 The ground-based operators can be readily relieved in a shif-work
pattern

• Dirty Roles
• Applicable to both civilian and military applications, monitoring the
environment for nuclear or chemical contamination puts aircrew
unnecessarily at risk.
 Crop-spraying with toxic chemicals is another dirty role which now
is conducted very successfully by UAV.
Dangerous Roles
• For military roles, where the reconnaissance of heavily defended areas is
necessary, the attrition rate of a manned aircraf is likely to exceed that of
a UAV.
• Loss of the asset is damaging, but equally damaging is the loss of
trained aircrew
 Due to its smaller size and greater stealth, the UAV is more difficult for an
enemy air defence system to detect and more difficult to strike with anti-
aircraf fire or missiles.
 The UAV operators are under no personal threat and can
concentrate more.
• Power-line inspection and forest fire control are examples of
applications in the civilian field for which experience sadly has
shown that manned aircraf crew can be in significant danger.
 UAV can carry out such tasks more readily and without risk to
personnel.
• Research Roles
• UAVs are being used in research and development work in the
aeronautical field.
• For test purposes, the use of UAV as small-scale replicas of projected civil
or military designs of manned aircraf enables airborne testing to be
carried out, under realistic conditions, more cheaply and with less hazard.
• Testing subsequent modifications can also be effected more cheaply and
more quickly than for a larger manned aircraf, and without any need for
changes to aircrew accommodation or operation.
• Environmentally Critical Roles (relates predominantly to civilian roles)
• A UAV will usually cause less environmental disturbance or pollution than a
manned aircraf pursuing the same task.
• It will usually be smaller, of lower mass and consume less power, so
producing lower levels of emission and noise.
 regular inspection of power-lines where local inhabitants may object to the
noise produced and
 where farm animals may suffer disturbance both from noise and from
sighting the low-flying aircraf.
Covert Roles
•In both military and civilian policing operations there are roles where
it is imperative not to alert the ‘enemy’ to the fact that they have
been detected.
•Again, the lower detectable signatures of the UAV (see Chapter 7)
make this type of role more readily achievable.
•Also in this category is the covert surveillance which arguably
infringes the airspace of foreign countries in an uneasy peacetime.

Economic Reasons
•The UAV is smaller than a manned aircraf used in the same role,
and is usually considerably cheaper in first cost.
•Operating costs are less since maintenance costs, fuel costs and
hangarage costs are all less.
• The labour costs of operators are usually lower and insurance may
be cheaper, though this is dependent upon individual circumstances.