KU Aerospace Short Courses

Conceptual Design of Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Instructor(s)

Armand Chaput

Richard Colgren

Note: The class may be taught by one or both instructors.

Description

Conceptual approach to overall design of Unmanned Aircraft (UA) Systems (UAS) includes concepts of operations, communications, payloads, control stations, air vehicles and support. Includes requirements and architecture development, initial sizing and conceptual level parametric and spreadsheet assessment of major system elements.

Target Audience

Designed primarily for practicing conceptual level design engineers, systems engineers, technologists, researchers, educators and engineering managers. Students should have some knowledge of basic aerodynamics and conceptual design, although it is not mandatory. Basic knowledge of spreadsheet analysis methods is assumed.

Fee Includes

Includes instruction, a course notebook, refreshments and five lunches. The course notes are for participants only and are not for sale.

Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop computer.

Fees: See fee information for individual classes in the registration column on the right side of this page.

Class Time

Class time: 31.5 hours • 3.15 CEUs

Course Outline

Day One

Course introduction
Introduction to UAS
UAS conceptual design issues
Fundamentals of system design
UAS operating environments
Sortie rate estimates

Day Two

Requirements analysis
Control station considerations and sizing
Communication considerations/sizing
Payload (EO/IR and radar) considerations and sizing
Reliability, maintainability and support
Life cycle cost
Decision making

Day Three

Air vehicle parametric design
Conceptual level aerodynamics
Standard atmosphere models
Parametric propulsion

Day Four

Mass properties
Parametric geometry
Air vehicle performance
Mission assessment
Methodology and correlation

Day Five

Air vehicle optimization
Overall system optimization
Class design presentation

Comments from Past Participants

"A comprehensive treatment of conceptual design for UAS, with emphasis on the types of analytical tools to allow early, effective development work." — 2008 Attendee

How You May Benefit

Understand how to design and analyze overall unmanned aircraft systems
Understand how to estimate sensor size and performance and their impact on overall system performance
Understand basic elements of UAS communications and know how to estimate overall communication system size and power requirements
Understand how to develop overall concepts of cooperation and assess impacts of sortie rate and supportability
Understand key air vehicle configuration drivers, how to estimate aero/propulsion/weight/stability, overall air vehicle performance, size and trade offs
Understand how to bring all of the pieces together to optimize performance and cost at the overall unmanned aircraft system level

Dates and Locations

For Course Information

Contact Kim Hunsinger
at 785-864-4758
or use the button below:

On-Site Course Information

Find out how courses
can be tailored to
your company’s needs.
Contact Soma Chakrabarti
at 785-864-7855
or use the button below:

Registration Information

Mail
Aerospace Short Courses
The University of Kansas
Continuing Education
Registrations
1515 St. Andrews Drive
Lawrence, KS 66047-1625

Phone
Toll-free 877-404-5823
or 785-864-5823
Fax
785-864-4871
TDD
800-766-3777
E-mail
kuce@ku.edu