International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) can deliver real-time battlefield video directly to the soldier providing unprecedented situational awareness. The video communications system must be compact, lightweight, secure, and easy to deploy without a complicated ground station. Pacific Microwave Research, Inc. is developing a system capable of providing reliable and secure video communications to handheld terminals throughout the theater. PMR’s Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (COFDM) video transmission system is designed for tactical video transmission in battlefield or Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) environments. Using digital modulation coding, the system provides a very robust link in the mobile environment.

The aim of this study is to describe the conceptual design, performance analysis to validate the design and manufacturing steps of Middle East Technical University Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicle (METU TUAV). The system requirements are adopted from a market study and assumed as is. Utilizing competitor search and conceptual design methodology, the rough parameters of the aircraft are defined and a performance analysis is conducted to validate the requirements. After the design team is content that the design is meeting the requirements, material and production techniques are evaluated. The male and female molds of the aircraft are manufactured with glass fibre fabric and special mold resin. Using the female molds / with glass, carbon and aramid fibre materials and epoxy matrix / utilizing wet-layup and vacuum bagging techniques the METU TUAV is manufactured. Wing, tail and fuselage skins are manufactured first and the reinforcing structures are integrated and cured inside the skins. Then the skins are assembled and the separate components are obtained. The rear landing gear and tail booms are also manufactured from carbon fibre composites. The individual parts are assembled together in special alignment jigs and the METU TUAV is completed.

This thesis presents the design of an autopilot capable of flying small unmanned aerial vehicles with wingspans less then 21 inches. The autopilot is extremely small and lightweight allowing it to fit in aircraft of this size. The autopilot features an advanced, highly autonomous flight control system with auto-launch and auto-landing algorithms. These features allow the autopilot to be operated by a wide spectrum of skilled and unskilled users. Innovative control techniques implemented in software, coupled with light weight, robust, and inexpensive hardware components were used in the design of the autopilot.