Preliminary Design Study for a Future Unmanned Cargo Aircraft Configuration

Abstract

This paper presents the research conducted to determine different aircraft configurations for use as an unmanned cargo aircraft, operating in the lower air space and carrying payload of about one ton. Investigations are performed in the context of the DLR project ALAADy (Automated Low Altitude Air Delivery). A first analysis compares five fixed-wing aircraft in terms of flight performance, comprising cruise flight, take-off and landing distances and evaluates the benefits of the integration of supplementary electric propulsion. A separate study deals with flight performance of rotorcraft. Finally, two fixed-wing aircraft and one rotorcraft are proposed for ALAADy.