DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECLIPSE AND DEMON DEMONSTRATOR UAVS

The paper will initially describe the main requirements of the 5-year FLAVIIR integrated programme for UAV technology research and development. This programme is sponsored by BAE SYSTEMS and the UK EPSRC research council and started in June 2004, with contributions from 10 UK universities, led by Cranfield University. FLAVIIR’s aim is to develop technologies which will allow development of UAVs with low acquisition and operating cost characteristics. It is an important requirement that these technologies be integrated, and demonstrated at higher technology readiness levels than are usual in the University sector. One means of achieving this is to use a number of technology demonstrators, culminating in the sophisticated DEMON flying UAV demonstrator. A particularly challenging requirement is that the vehicle must demonstrate an entire flight cycle, without the use of conventional flying control surfaces. The earlier ECLIPSE UAV will be described, as will its use in providing early test information, prior to the flights of the larger, but similarly shaped DEMON vehicle. The paper will describe the technology integration process and the design and development of the DEMON vehicle. Other technologies are to be flown in the DEMON, and lessons learnt from these, and other technologies will be proposed for full-size UAVs.