IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - November/December 2021 - 11

Figure 1. Examples of UAV body styles.
UAV Body Styles
UAVs can have many different body styles or
shapes depending on the flight style and
intended usage or missions. UAV body styles
mainly fall into one of the following types.
Fixed-Wing: Fixed-wing UAVs (see Figure 1)
are modeled after conventional airplanes and
utilize the same flying concepts. Fixed-wing
UAVs need a runway or need to be thrown by
hand or slung using a catapult to takeoff. Such
UAVs also need a runway or need to be caught
by a net or require a landing parachute to land
safely. The fixed-wing configuration of UAV has
the advantage of having a larger payload capacity
and longer flight time due to the low consumption
of power needed for gliding. The body
style of fixed-wing UAVs might be designed as a
normal plane or in a pusher configuration, where
the propeller is installed behind the UAV.
Another style is a delta wing, which is the simplest
build configuration. This style has the propeller
at the back like the pusher configuration,
but there is no rudder and the elevons control
the pitch and yaw.
Multirotor: Multirotor UAVs (see Figure 1) can
be configured using multiple motors installed on
arms. This body type has the advantages of vertical
takeoff and landing (VTOL), and can hover
in a fixed position. Multirotor UAVs can fly in
any direction and change speed, altitude, and
direction abruptly, but these UAVs usually tend
to have a shorter range and flight duration. The
multirotor body can be designed as a traditional
helicopter, a tricopter, where it has three arms
with three motors one on each, or a quadcopter
where it has four arms with four motors. Multirotor
UAVs can also be configured with a variable
number of arms and rotors.
Vertical Takeoff and Landing: The VTOL body
type (see Figure 1) is very versatile as it can be a
hybrid of the two previously mentioned body
styles (i.e., fixed-wing and multirotor). The VTOL
November/December 2021
UAVs typically use multirotors to takeoff, land,
and hover, whereas these UAVs transition to a
normal fixed-wing flight style to travel horizontally.
The VTOL UAVs can be configured by affixing
quadcopter rotors on a fixed-wing like
Aerosonde HQ by Textron Systems. Other VTOL
body configurations include tiltrotors and tiltwings.
In tiltrotor UAVs, some of the rotors on the
wing tilt vertically and horizontally like the Bell V247
Vigilant. Tiltwing UAVs have a wing that is
normally horizontal while flying but rotates up in
the cases of vertical takeoff and landing.
UAV Body Material
The body of UAVs could be made of a plethora
of materials, such as foam, plastic, wood,
carbon fibers, aluminum, and G-10 (a high-pressure
fiberglass laminate). Materials such as
foam, plastic, and wood are lightweight and easy
to shape and usually used for small and light
UAVs running on an electric motor. Carbon
fibers and G-10 are very strong and light but an
expensive alternative to the aforementioned
materials (i.e., foam, plastic, and wood). Aluminum
is mostly used in bigger UAVs that have an
engine and carry heavier payloads (e.g., packages
for delivery, cargo, missiles). Table 1 compares
the density, tensile strength, and pros and
cons of some of the UAV body materials.
UAV Components
A UAV is made up of modular components
that are installed on or inside the body of UAVs.
Some of these components are essential for the
operation and flying of UAVs, whereas other
components are installed for mission-specific
purposes. Figure 2 depicts the main components
of a UAV. This section discusses the main components
of UAVs focusing on sensors, flight controllers,
propulsion subsystem, payloads, and
communication subsystem.
1. SENSORS: UAVs use a variety of sensors that
provide the flight controller with data such as
telemetry, attitude measurements, terrain, and
obstacles. Sensors are also an integral part of situational
awareness of UAVs. The combination of
sensors installed on UAVs depends on the complexity
and sophistication level of UAVs. The
most common sensor suite for UAVs include the
following sensors.
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