Study on the Influence of UAV Wingtip Connection on Ceiling and Endurance
The cluster UAVs have developed rapidly in recent years with the advantages of low cost, expandability and high reliability. However, due to their small size, they have the shortages of range and flight time. Wingtip connection technology, as an important way to increase the range and flight time of fixed-wing cluster UAVs, has also developed rapidly in recent years. From the theoretical analysis, it is concluded that the wingtip connection can effectively improve the aerodynamic characteristics of fixed-wing UAVs, and the conclusions are validated by vortex lattice method simulation. Based on this, the influence of the number of units on the flight performance of the combination is analysed theoretically. As the number of units increases, the combination can have higher ceiling, larger range and longer flight time.
