Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Dalbir Singh Associate Professor

Team Captain:
Goutham Govindarajan

Team Members:
Dharun Krishnan
Anusha V
Nishanth Shankaran
Azarudeen
Shanmuganathan Saravanan
Vikram Kiran
Anupama
Ashwin Sunderraj
Nazeer shah
Aasim Mohammed
Gopikrishnan Santosh












ASTRA 2014
2

Statement Of Compliance:
ASTRA 2014
3

Contents:

List of figures and tables 4

1. Introduction 5

2. Design Process 6
2.1 Research 6
2.1.1 Aerofoil selection 6
2.1.2 Design methodology 6
2.1.3 Avionic selection 7
2.2 Design Analysis and Review Process 7
2.3 Engine Selection 8


3. Analysis of the Aircraft 8
3.1 Sizing of aircraft 8
3.1.1 Main wing selection 9
3.1.2 Overall Configuration 10
3.2 Aircraft Stability and control 10
3.2.1 Longitudinal stability 11
3.2.2 Lateral stability 11
3.2.3 Directional stability 11
3.2.4 Control surface sizing 11
3.3 Aircraft Performance 11
3.4 Weight distribution and analysis 12
3.4.1 Payload variation 13
3.4.2 Drop mechanism 14

4. Construction and manufacture of GRYPHON 3.0 16
4.1 Main plane 16
4.2 Tail plane 18
4.3 Fuselage 18
4.4 Landing Gear 18
4.5 Weight breakdown 18
4.6 Applications 20

5. Conclusion 23

6. References 24

7. 3-D plot of GRYPHON 3.0 25
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List of figures and tables:

Fig1. Static thrust performance of O.S. 46 8
Fig2. Plot of CH10(SMOOTHED) 9
Fig3. Lift Coefficient (C
L
) versus Drag Coefficient (C
D
) 9
Fig4. Lift Coefficient (C
L
) Versus Angle of Attack (Alpha) 9
Fig5. Stability sketch of Aircraft 10
Fig6. Airfoil velocity distribution 13
Fig7. Payload Prediction graph 13
Fig8. Drop mechanism 15
Fig9. Main wing on standoff 17
Fig10. CG of the Wing 19
Fig11. CG of the Aircraft 20

Table1. Dimensions of the aircraft 10
Table2. Aircraft performance at takeoff and cruise stages 12
Table3. Properties of Balsa wood 17
Table4. Weight breakdown of GRYPHON 3.0 19

Abbreviations:
C
L
Co efficient of Lift - Density
C
D
- Co efficient of Drag v- Velocity
Angle of Attack C
D0
Zero lift Drag co efficient
FPV- First Person View C
Di
- Induced drag Co efficient
UAS- Unmanned Arial System S- wing span
RPA- Remotely Piloted Aircraft MALE- Medium Altitude Long Endurance
T
0
Static Thrust
P- Pitch
GPS- Global Positioning System
C
Lmax
- Maximum Co efficient of Lift
DAS- Data Acquisition System
CG- Center Of Gravity
AC- Aerodynamic Center
RPM- Revolutions Per Minute
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1.Introduction

ASTRA is a looming team comprising of ingenious undergraduates of Hindustan
University, Chennai. The team currently includes 12 students brought together by the similar interest in
aero designing and modeling. The team was formed in August 2013 and has been working ever since.
The objective of Advanced Class -SAE Aero Design 2014 is to create an aircraft that is bound by the
laws of the competition.
The team is comprised of undergraduate students with multiple talents brought together
to make a mark in the field of aviation, designing and fabrication of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) to
compete in the Advanced Class - SAE Aero Design 2014.
The goal of the competition is to design and build a remote piloted heavy-lift aircraft,
which must be able to carry the payload, maintain aircraft stability, drop the payload precisely and land
successfully. Typical challenges of designing and building the plane include wing design, stability,
weight reduction and structural integrity.
The team is methodically organized with detailed software analysis, experimental data and
expert validation to back the optimization. The Advanced Class aero design series teams shall design an
UAS which should be capable of accurately dropping humanitarian aid package from a minimum of 100
feet above the ground. The aircraft can be used for similar applications like surveillance, Aerosol
Sampling and in the field of agriculture.
The GRYPHON 3.0 carries two types of cargos, the first being static cargo and the second being
expellable cargo which together make the payload of the aircraft. The aircraft must not weigh more than
sixty five pounds with payload and fuel.
The wing span of the aircraft is not limited. The GRYPHON 3.0 has a wing span of
approximately ten feet. It must be powered solely by an internal combustion engine. The total
displacement of the engines cylinder must not exceed 0.46 cubic inches. The aircraft must also possess
a Data Acquisition System (DAS) to record the altitude at which the aircraft is present at the time when
the expellable cargo drop is made.
The aircraft is required to use 2.4 GHz radio. Gyroscopic assist may be used in order to maintain
the stability of the aircraft. The competition provides interesting challenges like designing and building
of stable UAS, optimizing its control, and strategizing drop trajectories and pilot communication.
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2. Design Process
With reference from numerous books and discussing with various specialized personnel
in the field of Unmanned Aviation Systems, Astra came to a conclusion in the design of GRYPHON.

2.1 Research
Research on designing and building GRYPHON 3.0 was made by taking the scoring system into
consideration. Astra has constructed GRYPHON 3.0 in all possible ways to obtain the maximum scores
possible.

2.1.1 Aerofoil selection:
Astra chose CH10, a cambered Airfoil for its main wing. The initial choice for the main
wing was NACA 6412. This was later replaced by CH10 (SMOOTHED) for a better lifting property
compared to the NACA 6412. CH10 has a maximum thickness of 12.8% and chord of 30.8%, low
Reynolds number and high lift. The overall conclusive aim is to carry heavy payload hence the airfoil
with better lift property was considered.

The vertical stabilizer of GRYPHON 3.0 consists of NACA 0012 airfoil, a symmetrical
aerofoil. NACA 0012 airfoil has no camber, and has a thickness of 12% of the chord length. It gives
better stability and propagates a better yaw movement. The horizontal stabilizer was decided as AG36, a
flat bottom aerofoil which fits the design requirements. AG36 has a maximum thickness 8.2% at 27.9%
chord and a maximum camber of 2.3% at 37% chord. Due to its drag compensating property when
inverted, we have arrived at this unanimous choice so as to balance a heavy nose.

2.1.2 Design Methodology:

The fuselage design is of great importance in this competition. It must be constructed in
such a way as to carry a heavy payload. The payload includes telemetry system, Static cargo, expellable
cargo and other essential components. GRYPHON 3.0 has a box type fuselage that can carry a large
payload with low weight factor. The expellable cargo is released by servo actuation. Astra incorporated
the three components of the flight score FS into three primary design criteria: precise flight control (S1),
minimized aircraft weight (S2), and lifting capability of maximum takeoff load WTO = 26 lbs (S3). These
criteria drove the weight minimization in all structures and materials and also focus on aircraft stability
ASTRA 2014
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and control.
The scoring system specifies that, if the humanitarian package is dropped precisely
within 50 feet drop target, the team will get a non zero flight score FS.
Similarly, the team worked on weight reduction because the empty weight of the aircraft
shall not be greater than 12 pounds to receive non-zero FS.

2.1.3 Avionic Selection
The 2014 Advanced Class competition calls for a number of Data Acquisition System
(DAS) functions. To meet these requirements, Astra made sure that the DAS would be able to display
the altitude of the plane in real time and log the altitude when the payload is dropped. Additional DAS
goals were to record GPS and air speed data as well as provide a real time stream from a camera to
assist the payload dropping.
The team has used ArduPilot Mega 2.6 to perform the telemetry works. ArduPilot Mega
2.6 is a fully programmable autopilot that requires a GPS module and sensors to create a functioning
Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The autopilot handles both stabilization and navigation, eliminating
the need for a separate stabilization system. It also supports a "fly-by-wire" mode that can stabilize an
aircraft when flying manually under RC control, making it easier and safer to fly.


2.2 Design Analysis and Review Process

Astra has conducted experiments for analysis of the design. It is in order to make sure
that all the needs of the competition are purely satisfied by the team. This process of analysis includes
construction of the prototype, stress analysis of the wing, carbon fiber testing and engine test.
The team decided to test the wing design innovation by constructing a miniature aircraft,
called the mini plane, so that qualitative analysis could be performed on it practically. Though our first
prototype ended in failure, we then came up with our present successful design, meeting all the
requirements of the competition.
To be able to meet the weight requirements, Astra also experimented with various
composite material arrangements of foam, wood, and carbon fiber to determine the lightest and
strongest materials to be used on the aircraft.
The fuselage was to be made out of a wood/composite sandwich for rigidity. The tests showed
the rigidity differences between wood types is negligible (unlike the weight differences), with
ASTRA 2014
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plywood being more suitable for carrying such a payload, and thus resulting in lighter materials with
high strength properties. The tensile strength of plywood is 845Kgf/cm
2
.

2.3 Engine Selection:
Astra has chosen 0.46 OS engine as the teams are restricted to use engines having
displacement of 0.46 cubic inches. Choosing the power plant is always a major part while building any
aircraft. To efficiently size and configure its aircraft, Astra needed an estimation of engine
performance. The team derived the results by testing propellers of various configurations at the
maximum safe RPM attainable by the engine and recording static thrust mounted on the test bench.
The resulting maximum thrust measurement allowed Astra to predict takeoff equilibrium conditions.










Fig1. Static thrust performance of the O.S. 46


3. Analysis of the Aircraft
This section includes the sizing of the aircraft, stability, structural analysis and payload
prediction.

3.1 Aircraft Sizing:
The aircraft must be sized to meet the mission requirements. Hence, Astra gave
importance to the construction of a UAS that must have low empty weight, more space to carry cargo
and also high durability during flight. Materials used are prioritized for their high strength to weight
ratio.

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3.1.1 Main wing Selection:
ASTRA opted for a highly under cambered CH10 (SMOOTHED) airfoil. It was designed
by Chuch Hollinger and was thus named CH10 (SMOOTHED). This airfoil was designed for heavy lift.
It has a thickness of 12.75%, a camber of 10.20% and a Cm value of -0.92. The maximum co efficient of
lift value for CH10(SMOOTHED) was found to be CL, max = 1.95.

Fig2. Plot of CH10 (SMOOTHED)



The main plane of the aircraft plays a major role in producing maximum lift. Hence a
prototype of the wing was made and after continuous tests with change in chord length and thickness,
the team optimized the wing. The CL versus CD graph was also plotted by the team. The CL, max value
from the graph was found to be 1.95 for the given airfoil.

Fig3. CL versus CD Fig4. CL versus

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3.1.2 Overall Configuration:
The overall sizing of the aircraft is another important attribute of the mission.
According to the mission requirements the aircraft must have enough room for the bay to carry the static
cargo, telemetry system and other basic systems needed for the working of GRYPHON 3.0. In
accordance with these the aircraft was sized as mentioned in the table below.

Parts Length (ft) Area(ft
2
)
Main Plane 8.98 290.118
Tail Plane 3.41 60.684
Fuselage 2.26 13.998

Table1. Dimensions of the aircraft

3.2 Aircraft Stability and Control:
The mission of the competition is to precisely drop the package within the target
area for which the stability of the aircraft is a necessity. Control surface of GRYPHON 3.0 has large
control surface area. This will provide effective maneuvering for pilots commands through the
transmitter. Static stability of an aircraft refers to attaining the equilibrium state when disturbed.
Dynamic stability is attaining stability after getting disturbed over a period of time.



Fig5. Stability sketch of an aircraft



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3.2.1 Longitudinal Stability:
The stability maintained along the longitudinal axis of the plane is called its longitudinal
stability. The longitudinal axis of an aircraft is the axis passing through the tips of the wings. The
longitudinal stability of GRYPHON 3.0 is maintained by exact positioning of Center of Gravity (CG).
CG of the aircraft is highly influential to attain natural stability both during flight and ground run.
Longitudinal stability of the aircraft affects the pitching moment. Thus it plays a role during takeoff and
landing. For an aircraft to be longitudinally stable it must respond to disturbances in pitching moment
with an opposing force so as to maintain the equilibrium. Longitudinal disturbances may occur when the
aircraft experiences pitching movement. Owing to the condition to being longitudinally stable the
GRYPHON 3.0 has its neutral point behind the CG.

3.2.2 Lateral Stability:
Lateral stability is the ability of the UAS to regain equilibrium condition after a
disturbance in the roll movement. Lateral stability is the ability of the UAS to be affected by various
parameters like dihedral wing structure, ailerons, vertical stabilizer, and rudder size. GRYPHON 3.0 is
laterally stable as its CG is below the AC. GRYPHON 3.0 is a high wing UAS which has good lateral
stability. The wing is placed dihedral position. Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the
wings of a aircraft. This produces dihedral effect. Dihedral effect is a critical factor in the stability of an
aircraft. This dihedral angle can increase the roll stability. This incorporation is done with the pilots and
control system commands.

3.2.3 Directional Stability:
Directional stability is stability around the vertical or normal axis. The most important
feature that affects directional stability is the vertical tail surface, that is, the fin and rudder. The
directional stability of the aircraft deals with the yawing movement of the aircraft. Yawing is movement
of the aircraft along the vertical axis of the plane. Any disturbance in yaw will be opposed to retain the
equilibrium state if disturbed. Astra have designed GRYPHON3.0 with a single rudder having control
surface of 210 cm
2
(0.226 ft
2
).

3.2.4 Control Surface Sizing:
The control surfaces of the aircraft are made for effective maneuverability. The rudder
helps in the yaw movement of the aircraft, ailerons for roll and elevators for the pitching movement. The
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control surfaces are sized to about 6 cm in length for an effective repositioning of the UAV, when
disturbed from its flight. GRYPHON 3.0 uses rudder, aileron and elevators of selective airfoils with
required qualities for effective repositioning. All the control surfaces have large surface area. This is to
provide GRYPHON 3.0 effective maneuverability. Though maneuverability is not an important part of
the mission, control surfaces will help maintaining stability of the aircraft.

3.3 Aircraft Performance:
ASTRA used various equilibrium conditions for calculating aircraft performance at both
cruise and take off conditions.

Velocity(ft/s) Thrust(lbf) Lift (lbf) L/D Induced
Drag(lbf)
Take off 33 5.25 24.6 8.1 2.3
Cruise 58 2.56 26.5 9.2 1.0

Table2. Aircraft Performance at take off and cruise stages

The induced drag is 130% more during takeoff than cruise. At cruise condition the aircraft needs more
thrust to overcome the drag. The aircraft travels with almost twice the velocity than takeoff condition. At
cruise condition, the thrust produced will be equal to the drag produced, which is not the case during
takeoff. The team then calculated the drag coefficients for each part which is the sum of zero lift drag
(C
D0
) and Lift induced drag (C
Di
).The total drag is the sum of C
D0
and C
Di
for fuselage, main wing and
tail wing separately.



(By using the formulas C
L
and

C
D
values required were found by the team.)

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Fig.6 Airfoil velocity distribution

3.4 Weight Distribution and analysis:

3.4.1 Payload prediction:
The payload of an aircraft includes frame weight, fuel weight, static cargo, expellable
cargo and other systems of the aircraft. Among these the fuel weight keeps decreasing proportional to
the throttle inputs. The team has decided to keep the expellable cargo outside the fuselage. Expellable
cargo will be dropped off as per the mission of the competition. As the aircraft travels particular
distances, fuel weight keeps decreasing. When the aircraft lands the fuel weight will differ to the initial
weight.

Fig7. Payload Prediction graph
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The above graph explains in detail about the payload variation with respect to altitude. The equation
used to plot the graph is mentioned in the graph.

3.4.2 Drop mechanism:

Dropping with precision is the most competitive part of the competition. Astra has
followed a projectile drop mechanism in order to drop the expellable cargo from the aircraft. When the
aircraft releases the expellable cargo it will have an initial velocity equal to aircrafts velocity. As the
expellable cargo travels, its velocity keeps decreasing, leading to a projectile motion. The FPV used in
the aircraft helps the secondary pilot to assess the position of the aircraft above dropping zone. The
expellable cargo must be dropped at a distance x ahead of the dropping zone. This value of x depends
on the height and the velocity with which the package will be dropped. By knowing the speed and
altitude the secondary pilot will be able to predict the drop position of the package. The team has
calculated the value of x for different predicted velocities of GRYPHON 3.0 during its cruise. This
will help in increasing the precision of the drop.
Team Astra have decided to keep the expellable cargo at the belly of GRYPHON,
externally. The expellable cargo is held by means of a latch. This latch lock and release will be done
with the help of servo actuation. Astra have a primary pilot within the team. Thus the secondary pilot
who is also a team member is responsible for drop the package. The secondary pilot by using the FPV
system will drop the expellable cargo. This will help improve the precision in dropping the package. Our
secondary pilot has done dropping test as many times as possible to end up in precision.
According to the rules the primary pilot cannot drop the package. The Data Acquisition
System (DAS) is used to record the real time altitude reading from the ground station and the altitude at
the time of expellable cargo release. This will stay as a record to show if it was a successful mission for
the team.
The team has opted for Ardupilot 2.6 Mega for the telemetry system. After the expellable
cargo is dropped the UAS will lose its stability. According to the rules laid for 2014 advanced class
competition Gyroscopic assistance is allowed. The Ardupilot board contains gyro assistance and hence it
is taken care of.
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Fig8. Drop Mechanism

As the Ardupilot board is gyro assisted, GRPHON 3.0 can maintain a stable flight even after the cargo is
dropped. In other conditions when gyro assist is not used it will be very difficult for the pilot to maintain
the stability of GRYPHON3.0. This telemetry system has all pre programmed functions for the Gyro
assistance, GPS tracking and other telemetry works. Hence, GPS tracking system can be a choice for
dropping the package accurately by using the GPS coordinates. In the above figure as shown the
velocity keeps decreasing and looses height consistently from the time of release.





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4. Construction and manufacture of GRYPHON 3.0:
The team consisting of undergraduate students has put together all their innovative ideas
in the construction process of the aircraft. The ideas of all individuals in the team were taken into
consideration during the construction of the GRYPHON 3.0. Various discussions and analytic work was
carried out before construction. Construction is also a crucial part of the competition which is because of
the empty weight restriction to 8lbs.


4.1 Main Plane:
The main wing of GRYPHON 3.0 is made out of balsa wood. Balsa has a high strength to
weight ratio which is the major reason for its choice. The wing ribs, spars and control surfaces are all
made out of balsa of different thickness according to their use. At the course of construction it was
constructed as 3 parts for the ease in shipment as well as construction. Spars which provide support to
the ribs were made out of spruce. Spruce wood has an elastic modulus of 11.03 GPa and a modulus of
rupture of 70 GPa which highly suits our needs to the design. We have used a swept wing in the
GRYPHON 3.0. The UAS has larger wing area and control surface area. A cambered airfoil with a huge
wing span is capable of carrying heavy payload for which the power plant is restricted. Thus a wing
span of 10 feet was chosen. Wing with large wing span and control surface area can also result in
gaining stability of the aircraft.
The standoff for the construction was made out of high density foam. It was perfectly shaped to
fill the under camber section of the ribs. The control surfaces were also shaped from high density balsa
wood. At the end sections of the wing, the wing gets tapered. This is done in order to reduce the induced
drag created on the UAS.
Density 163 10 kg/m
Compressive Strength
Low density
Medium Density
High Density

4.7 MPa
12.1 MPa
19.5 MPa
Tensile Strength
Low Density
Medium Density
High Density

7.6 MPa
19.9 MPa
32.2 MPa
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Elastic Modulus- Compression 460 71 MPa
Elastic Modulus- Tension 1280 450 MPa
Low Density
Medium Density
High Density
75 kg/m (0.0027 lb/in)
150 kg/m (0.0054 lb/in)
225 kg/m (0.0081 lb/in)

Table3. Properties of Balsa Wood

Each section of the wing is attached using carbon fiber tubes and bolted at the sections.
Carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers are composite materials. Carbon fiber has high stiffness, high tensile
strength and low weight. Carbon fibers are used commonly in the field of UAS.
Reinforcements are present in CFRP which provides strength and rigidity; measured
by Stress (mechanics) and Elastic modulus respectively. Unlike isotropic materials like steel and
aluminum, CFRP has directional strength properties. The properties of CFRP depend on the layouts of
the carbon fiber and the proportion of the carbon fibers relative to the polymer. Youngs modulus of a
standard carbon fiber rod is 70GPa. The wing is constructed in a way as to weigh low and produce more
lift.


Fig9. Main wing on the standoff

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4.2 Tail Plane:
The tail plane of the aircraft is connected to the fuselage using a carbon fiber tube of
25mm diameter. The purpose of this is to reduce the empennage weight of GRYPHON 3.0. As it has
high stiffness when travelling at high velocity it will be resistant to bending. The tail plane consists of
the vertical and horizontal stabilizer. The horizontal stabilizer is made from a flat bottom aerofoil AG36
while the vertical stabilizer or the rudder is made out from NACA 0012. The ribs and spars for these are
made from balsa wood as well. The carbon fiber boom is angled and it can sustain the amount of torsion
produced. It is angled so as to show the difference in height between the main wing and tail wing.

4.3 Fuselage:
GRYPHON 3.0 has a box type fuselage. The fire wall is made thicker compared to the
bulkheads. The bulkheads are cut everywhere except the joining sections, for weight reduction. The
spars are made of spruce to give good support and strength for carrying high payload, and bear the
impact while landing. A complete truss structure which was initiated for later avoided for weight
reduction reason. Hence a carbon fiber rod of 25mm diameter was then used to connect the tail plane to
the fuselage. The fuselage was made spacious enough to occupy all the systems of the aircraft.

4.4 Landing Gear:
In GRYPHON 3.0 we have used a tri cycle type of landing gear system. The tri cycle
type of landing gear system eases the movement of aircraft on ground, which means such aircrafts can
be easily taxied and takeoff. It is the same reason for which GRYPHON3.0 has also opted for a tri cycle
type. The landing gear used has a good suspension and is highly shock absorbent. The orientation of the
UAS at ground will not be affected greatly even in case of an irregular run way. The main landing gear
and nose gear has an angle difference of 60
0
. The main landing gear is placed just behind the CG
position of the aircraft.

4.5 Weight breakdown:
The empty weight of the aircraft is restricted to 8 Lbs according to the rules of aero
design competition 2014. The team has constructed each part of the aircraft weight consciously. The
weight breakdown was done by the team as tabulated below. Weight reduction is made by making holes
in ribs, replacing the truss structure by a carbon fiber rod and holes in the fuselage walls.


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Parts Weight (Lbs)
Fuselage 2.2
Main Plane 2.86
Tail plane 0.98
Tail boom 0.338
Flight System 1.32
Total weight 7.698
Table4. Weight breakdown of GRYPHON 3.0


Fig 10: CG of the wing
The CG of the wing is calculated using WinLaengs V 2.7. The below figure shows the complete CG of
the aircraft which was also theoretically determined by the same software.

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Fig 11. CG of the aircraft


4.6 Application:
Our UAS Can roughly carry 17.637 Lbs payload which when replaced by fuel can
increase the endurance of the aircraft providing opportunities to handle various challenges. With the area
in the payload bay of the aircraft more sophisticated equipments relating to the application can be
carried. The GRYPHON 3.0 has a flight control board which can be used to carry out programmed
flights. The GRYPHON 3.0 can be used for various applications like surveillance and agricultural field.

4.6.1 Agriculture:
Agriculture is the next booming field for RPA. Large scale farmers can use
single/multiple RPA for monitoring, spraying of pesticides and fertilizers. RPA can reduce the
manpower. Large scale farmers use helicopters to carry out this work which is expensive when
compared to RPAs. The GRYPHON 3.0 incorporates GPS tracing system in its flight control board so
its travel positions can pre fixed. This way RPAs can fly autonomously. When the location is pre fixed
the operator working on the model need not be well trained as they must only to learn to land and take
off the RPA which can also be converted autonomous in future versions.


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4.6.2 Surveillance:
For surveillance of huge agricultural farms, industries, personal properties and solar
farms RPAs are being used. Farms that are extensively large cannot be monitored easily by humans.
Large scale industries can use RPA for surveillance rather than using high quality cameras. RPAs are
cheaper compared to cameras that are used for surveillance. Industries having large machinery need to
be monitored for good maintenance. Most of the fixed surveillance cameras have limited scope to hold
on to a moving target which can be accomplished with RPA.
4.6.3 Aerosol sampling:
Aerosol sampling can also be done using RPA. An aerosol is a colloid of the fine solid
particles or liquid droplets, in air or another gas. Examples of aerosol include haze, dust, particulate air
pollutants and smoke. Aerosol sampling includes measurement of atmospheric temperature and quality
of the air.

4.6.4 Detection of illegal Imports:
Persistent watch for suspicious shipping out at sea can be maintained by MALE UAV.
Using this any approach to land, in places other than recognized customs ports can be reported to the
Customs and Excise Authority (C & EA). The subsequent patrol of vulnerable remote coastal areas can
be taken under surveillance by UAS in order to check illegal entry of goods and can also be used as a
witness. This is better accomplished when stealthy slow flying UAS are used as the criminals will not
notice the UAS used. GRYPHON 3.0, when modified by adding a night vision camera can be used for
this kind of surveillance.

4.6.5 Electronic Intelligence:
Patrol, in search of enemy electronic emissions and their interception for intelligence
purposes can be a time-demanding and potentially vulnerable exercise. It is therefore more appropriate
for being carried out by UAS. The payload would include sensitive radio receiving equipments capable
of sweeping through a wide range of radio frequencies, recording and transmitting the data back to the
CS or the other interpreting station. The GRYPHON 3.0 has a huge payload bay which will be able to
carry all these electronic equipment.

4.6.6 Port protection:
Naval vessels that are present in ports are vulnerable to attacks from the enemy vessels.
Any damage to port facilities can deprive the fleet of operational support. An UAS with a camera fitted
ASTRA 2014
22

to it, transmitting of the recording to a station at ground or sea can be used for this protection purpose.
GRYPHON 3.0 has already incorporated the same system. Hence the UAS will notify or alert the
station, if under attack or suspicion.

4.6.7 Over-beach Reconnaissance:
Prior to approach to in a beach upon which a vessel must dock, a stealthy UAV may be
launched from a ship whilst the vessel(s) is still out of sight from the beach. The UAV will survey the
beach, for defensive measures using a passive EO/TI payload undetected. A decision can then be made
as to where docking may best be made. Stealth is important in this operation so as not to alert defensive
forces to an impending breach.

4.6.8 Forest fire detection:
Another application of UAVs is the prevention and early detection of forest fires. The chief
exponent of this type is the FT-ALTEA, developed by Flightech Systems. The possibility of constant
flight, both day and night, makes the methods used until now (helicopters, watchtowers, etc.) become
obsolete. Its payload consists of numerous cameras (HD, thermal, hyperspectral, etc.) and multiple
sensors that provide real-time emergency services, including information about the location of the
outbreak of fire as well as many factors (wind speed, temperature, humidity, etc.) that are helpful for fire
crews to conduct fire suppression.
4.6.9 Archaeology:
In Peru archaeologists use drones to speed up survey work and protect sites from squatters,
builders and miners. Small drones helped researchers produce three-dimensional models of Peruvian
sites instead of the usual flat maps and in days and weeks instead of months and years.
[100]

Drones have replaced expensive and clumsy small planes, kites and helium balloons. Drones
costing as little as650 have proven useful. In 2013 drones have flown over at least six Peruvian
archaeological sites, including the colonial Andean town Machu Llacta 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) above
sea level. The drones continue to have altitude problems in the Andes, leading to plans to make a
drone blimp, employing open source software.

Jeffrey Quilter, an archaeologist with Harvard University said, "You can go up three meters
and photograph a room, 300 meters and photograph a site, or you can go up 3,000 meters and
photograph the entire valley.
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Conclusion:
Team ASTRA consists of undergraduate students, each of whom has their own
specializing fields. The team decided to participate in the advanced class of SAE Aero Design
competition 2014 after reviewing the capabilities of individual members. The team constructed an
aircraft named GRYPHON 3.0 which is set to fulfill all the rules and regulations laid for this years
competition. The weight of the aircraft, stability and precision dropping were given utmost importance.
The GRYPHON 3.0 was also designed in such a manner that, with very slight modifications it can be
used in various fields. It was designed so as to make maximum use of it whilst keeping open, scope and
provision for important. The project is also aimed at transforming, the way various operations are
carried out by inculcating the use of UASs to reduce manpower and increase efficiency. The team
hopes to find the GRYPHON 3.0 and other such UASs actively used in the near future to serve the
community. The team is well prepared to give a good competition at the flying field.



















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6. References:

Reg Austin, Unmanned Aircraft Systems UAVS design, development, and deployment

Michael S. Selig, James J. Guglielmo, Andy P. Broeren and Philippe Giguere
Summary of Low-Speed Airfoil Data

Etkin, Bernard, and Lloyd Duff Reid, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996. Dynamics of Flight,
Stability and Control

Roskam, Jan. Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance Kansas: Design, Analysis and
Research Corporation, 2005.

John D Anderson Jr, Fundamentals of Aerodynamics Fifth Edition

Nelson, R.C. Flight Stability and Automatic Control, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1991.

A Guide to the Procurement, Design and Operation of UAV Systems, society of British Aerospace
Companies, November 1991.

www.wooddatabase.com

www.airfoiltools.com

WinLaengs V 2.7





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7. 3-D plot of GRYPHON 3.0