• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2018

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have been used for various purposes in multiple fields, such as observation, communication relaying, and information acquisition. Nowadays, UAVs must have high performance in order to acquire more precise information in larger amounts than is now possible while performing for long periods. At present, domestically, a high-altitude long-endurance UAV (HALE UAV) for long-term flight in the stratosphere has been developed in order to replace some functions of the satellite. In this study, as a part of structural soundness evaluation of the aircraft structure developed for the HALE UAV, the structural soundness of the fasteners of the fuselage and tail is evaluated by calculating the margin of safety(M.S). The result confirms the validity of the design of the fasteners in the aircraft structure of the UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.26-33
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• 2005

Smart UAV, which adopting tiltrotor aircraft concept, requires vertical take-off and landing, long endurance and high speed capability. These contradictable flight performances are hard to meet unless the operation of flap system which should reveal optimal performance for each flight mode. In order to design SUAV flaperon satisfying the three performance requirements, various configurations are generated and their aerodynamic performances are analyzed using numerical flow computations around flap systems. Considering aerodynamic performance and structural simplicity, a final flap configuration is selected and the performance is validated through the wind tunnel testing for 40% scale model.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.551-558
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• 2016

We analyzed wind speed over South Korea for HALE UAV(High Altitude Long Endurance Unmaned Aerial Vehicle) flight safety. Annual variation of wind speed at 200 hPa showed that winter season was stronger than summer. According to latitude, wind speeds in January and August were found to be $52{\sim}74m\;s^{-1}$ and $15{\sim}26m\;s^{-1}$, respectively. Wind speed was stronger(weaker) at lower latitudes than higher latitudes in winter(summer). Frequency(%) of wind speed less than threshold value($18m\;s^{-1}$) for the operation date was investigated. The days showing the frequency greater than 60 % in all altitudes of surface ~ 50 hPa showed the range of 1 ~ 33 days at 7 stations. Operation date was the longest period at Gosan. The appropriate date of HALE UAV operation at Gosan and Osan is considered as the middle of July ~ middle of August and end of July ~ early August, respectively. These results can be used to determine the operation date of HALE UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-29
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• 2015

In order to increase endurance flight efficiency of long endurance electric powered UAV, main wing of UAV should have high aspect ratio and low structural weight. Since a spar which consists of thin and slender structure for weight reduction can cause catastrophic failure during the flight, it is important to develop verification method of structural integrity of the spar with the light weight design. In this paper, process of structural analysis using non-linear finite element method was introduced for the verification of structural integrity of the spar. The static strength test of the spar was conducted to identify structural characteristic under the static load. Then, the experimental result of the spar was compared to the analytical result from the non-linear finite element analysis. It was found that the developed process of structural analysis could predict well the non-linear structural behavior of the spar under ultimate load.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.27-33
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• 2014

There are several methods to improve the flight efficiency of HALE(High Altitude Long Endurance) UAV(Unmaned Aerial Vehicle). Airframe structural point of view, weight reduction of the airframe structure is the most important method to improve the flight efficiency. In order to reduce the weight of airframe structures, new concepts which are different from traditional airframe structure design such as the mylar wing skin should be introduced. The spar is the most important component in a mylar skin wing structure, so the spar weight reduction is the key point for reduction of the wing structural weight. In this study, design trade-off study for the front spar of the HALE UAV wing is conducted in order to reduce the weight. Design and analysis procedure of high aspect ratio wing spar are introduced. Several front spar structures are designed and trade-off study regarding the weight and strength for the each spar are performed. Spar design configurations are verified by the static strength test. Finally, optimal front spar design is decided and applied to the HALE UAV wing design.

• Aerospace Engineering and Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

In order to increase endurance flight efficiency of long endurance electric powered UAV with solar cell, the light weight airframe design techniques are important. In this paper, the design of the main wing of electric powered UAV manufactured using Mylar film and fiber reinforced composite was conducted in order to achieve weight reduction and structural integrity of the structure. The shape of spar and size were determined using beam theory analysis. The finite element analysis of the wing was performed under various load condition derived from flight environment of EAV-2H. Finally, the static strength test of the main wing was conducted to verify structural integrity. It was found that the developed main wing weigh less than 42% than the previous EAV-2 and the main wing passed static strength test under ultimate load.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.940-947
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• 2012

The target system is a middle size UAV, which is a low-speed long-endurance UAV with a weight of 18 kg and wingspan of 6.4 m. Three electric power sources, i.e. solar cells, a fuel cell, and a battery, are considered. The optimal takeoff time is determined to maximize the endurance because the generated solar cell's energy is heavily dependent on it. Each power source is modeled in Matlab/Simulink, and the component models are verified with the component test data. The component models are integrated into a power system which is used for power simulations. When takeoff time is at 6 pm and 2 am, it can supply the power during 37.5 hrs and 27.6 hrs, respectively. In addition, the thermostat control simulation for fuel cell demonstrates that it yields more power supply and efficient power distribution.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.469-477
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• 2015

In this study, the characteristics of main wind direction, vertical temperature and wind speed profile near the Moseulpo airfield for HALE UAV(High Altitude Long Endurance Unmaned Aerial Vehicle) is investigated. The results are summarized as follows, main wind direction is governed by air mass according to season and local wind such as land-sea breeze. The directions of landing and take-off of HALE UAV will be selected as the south-east direction in June ~ August, north-west direction in October ~ March, and south-east direction at daytime in April ~ May, September. Annual variation of temperature at 100 hPa showed that temperature in summer season is lower than winter season. On the other hands, wind speed at 250 hPa in winter season is higher than summer season. The threshold values of temperature and wind speed for HALE UAV flight are $-75^{\circ}C$ and $90ms^{-1}$, which were determined by 5 % frequency value($1.96{\sigma}$), respectively.

• Atmosphere
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.359-370
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• 2017

In this study, the oceanic Total Precipitable Water (TPW) retrieval algorithm at 16 km altitude of High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (HALE UAV) is described. Empirical equation based on Wentz method (1995) that uses the 18.7 and 22.235 GHz channels is developed using the simulated brightness temperature and SeeBor training dataset. To do radiative simulation, Satellite Data Simulator Unit (SDSU) Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) is used. The data of 60% (523) and 40% (349) in the SeeBor training dataset are used to develop and validate the TPW retrieval algorithm, respectively. The range of coefficients for the TPW retrieval at the altitude of 3~18 km with 3 km interval were 153.69~199.87 (${\alpha}$), 54.330~58.468 (${\beta}$), and 84.519~93.484 (${\gamma}$). The bias and RMSE at each altitude were found to be about $-0.81kg\;m^{-2}$ and $2.17kg\;m^{-2}$, respectively. Correlation coefficients were more than 0.9. Radiosonde observation has been generally operated over land. To validate the accuracy of the oceanic TPW retrieval algorithm, observation data from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) Gisang 1 research vessel about six clear sky cases representing spring, autumn, and summer season is used. Difference between retrieved and observed TPW at 16 km altitude were in the range of $0.53{\sim}1.87kg\;m^{-2}$, which is reasonable for most applications. Difference in TPW between retrieval and observation at each altitude (3~15 km) is also presented. Differences of TPW at altitudes more than 6 km were $0.3{\sim}1.9kg\;m^{-2}$. Retrieved TPW at 3 km altitude was smaller than upper level with a difference of $-0.25{\sim}0.75kg\;m^{-2}$ compared to the observed TPW.