Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
Some RC planes use ducted fan engines. Is that practical for a drone?. I was thinking the ducts would shield the rotating bits.
Does redundancy work? Software detects loss of 4th engine, reconfigures to be a 3 engine drone. So a 5 engine drone could sustain loss of 2 engines.
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It does. I am working with one of the designers of the T-Hawk for a smaller commercial variant.
Here is the larger T-Hawk, which I was responsible for first deploying with EOD many years ago. We helped the Army (it was an Army program) get it deployed first with the Navy and USMC:
The problem is the "wheel of aero misfortune": Every design change to make a platform more survivable causes basic changes to the air vehicle performance and cost.
Your last questions (Does redundancy work? Software detects loss of 4th engine, reconfigures to be a 3 engine drone. So a 5 engine drone could sustain loss of 2 engines.) is excellent.
The sophistication of monitoring systems and autopilots is quite something today. The aircraft KNOW a lot more than they ever have.
Unfortunately, there are still some damage scenarios that cannot be fixed. I am working with another really smart guy on an Office of Naval Research octo-rotor VTOL because NOAA wants redundancy in the small ship environment.
Mechanical failure is quire different from damage failure from external inputs: Very hard to predict the impact to the flying qualities of the air vehicle in order to allow the software to respond appropriately to attack.
It is fascinating stuff, JYL. I am happy to have been in this business for over 10 years...and counting.