Design and flight test of a civil unmanned aerial vehicle for maritime patrol: the use of 3D-printed structural components

Abstract

This paper describes the design of the “Spotter” unmanned aerial vehicle, developed by the University of Southampton as part of the 2SEAS-3i European Interreg project. Spotter is a twin engine, 4m wing span, fixed-wing aircraft which has been designed to perform long-endurance, all-weather patrol missions in coastal and maritime environments. Reliability and safety have been among the strongest design drivers of this project; Spotter is able to survive the failure of one engine and of any single control surface. A modular approach has been adopted for the payload unit in order to allow the users to rapidly interchange the sensors required to perform different missions.

One of the most innovative aspects of Spotter is the extensive use of the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology (also known as 3D printing) for many of the components of its airframe. By eliminating tooling and manual labour, the 3D printing technology allows the designer to produce complex and high-performance structures at a relatively low cost and within hours of the completion of the design. Spotter and a sub-20kg version, codenamed 2SEAS-20, have undergone an extensive flight test campaign, totalling hundreds of autonomous flights (including autonomous take-off and landings) and many flight hours. This has provided the opportunity to test the reliability and robustness of the system and to gain a deeper insight into the opportunities and problems presented by the use of 3D printed structures for large airframe components.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Andy J. Keane: orcid.org/0000-0001-7993-1569

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