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software

Less is more when developing

composite parts for UAVs

By
JOHN W. OCONNOR
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT AND MARKET STRATEGY
VISTAGY, INC.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have experienced tremendous

growth as the value of incorporating remote sensing technologies
and weapon systems into pilotless aircraft has become more
evident. The advantages that come from long dwell times,
operational safety, and a flexible mission space make UAVs versatile
and useful complements to a variety of military, national security,
and aerial research activities. Addressing weight and cost issues is
central to achieving the advantages that UAVs promise, but realizing
them and continuing to improve upon current designs represents a
major technological challenge.

to understand the impact of design choices

on weight and cost and can readily update
the design when necessary.
he airframe of a high-altitude UAV
represents about one-third of the
gross vehicle take-off weight for the
aircraft. Any savings in the weight of the
airframe translates directly into increased
sensor or weapon payload as well as longer
flight duration. So manufacturers are
focused on using industry-specific
engineering processes to create new UAV
airframe designs that are less expensive to
develop and lighter than previous versions.

One solution for incorporating these

engineering processes into the
development of UAVs is Vistagys
FiberSIM composites engineering
software. FiberSIM is fully integrated into
authoring 3D CAD systems used by UAV
design teams including Siemens NX,
Dassault CATIA, and PTCs Pro/Engineer
and provides specialized capabilities for
defining the composite structure of an
airframe. By organizing the composite
information in an easy-to-use, logical
system, the manufacturer is far better able

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Further, since the software has the ability

to communicate accurate and up-to-date
composite definitions in formats
customized for manufacturing systems, the
whole downstream manufacturing process
is made more efficient, which significantly

reduces development costs. FiberSIM is a

powerful solution for smoothly creating
optimal designs while fully and smartly
leveraging engineering and manufacturing
systems that are in place.
FiberSIM standardizes and automates the
development process for composite
structures in UAVs, helping to achieve
lighter weight designs at lower cost.

Fig. 1: This UAV was used in Desert Rescue XI, a joint service combat search and
rescue (CSAR) training exercise hosted by the United States Naval Strike and Warfare Center in Nevada. The exercise simulates downed aircrew behind enemy lines,
enabling other aircrews to perform CSAR-related missions as well as experiment
with new techniques in realistic scenarios (U.S. Air Force photo by staff Sgt. Reynaldo Ramon)

jec composites magazine / No65 May June 2011

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tools and techniques used in conventional

aircraft development are now appropriate
for the design and manufacture of
medium-to-large UAVs. Composite design
tools are the standard in todays
aerostructure development environment
because composite definitions tend to be
extremely complex and a challenge to
manage. These pressures make composite
design tools an obvious choice for UAV
development programmes so they can
increase the performance and quality of
their designs.

Fig. 2: Example of a composite belly fairing designed with Vistagys FiberSIM

software during a CAD modelling session. Shown are the results of the producibility
simulation for a single composite ply. This provides the designer with a window to
the manufacturing floor which enables the early detection of manufacturing problems that can be addressed in design. This information is critical to production
quality

Inefficient manual tasks are reduced or

completely eliminated, helping to increase
the overall quality of the final product. All
of this happens in accordance with the
design-to-manufacturing release cycle
common to UAV companies and truly
augments existing efforts. The result is a
higher quality product built with a more
efficient and robust process that produces
higher-performing UAVs at lower cost.

Optimizing airframe design

Optimizing the aircraft for cost and weight

is critical for enhancing the UAVs footprint
in aviation, and composites certainly play a
major role in helping to achieve that goal.

Counting on composite design

tools
UAV programmes move at a much faster
pace than traditional aircraft programmes.
Carbon fibre is generally used for its
superior strength-to-weight and stiffnessto-weight properties. The suppliers doing
this work are usually experienced in
composite development. In fact, much of
the large UAV manufacturing in the past
decade has been performed by a handful of
experienced companies. They have lasers,
cutters, and other automation systems as
part of their operations. These
manufacturing systems need structured,
purpose-developed data to run efficiently.
Specialized composite design tools are
essential for this purpose.
UAVs are increasing in complexity and the

The medium and large UAV market is

coming from two directions: large
airframers are scaling down and small
manufacturers are scaling up. However, air
framers face a less demanding challenge
with UAVs than traditional aircraft because
the product development cycle is much
shorter and they dont need to go through
a certification process with a regulatory
body, such as the United States Federal
Aviation Administration. But this is
changing, so tools and processes are
becoming increasingly important as UAVs
are scaled up in size and users seek higher
performance.

Generating reliable data

In order to generate reliable manufacturing
data and create parts that match the asdesigned definition, manufacturers need to
determine that the entered data is:
- Accurate and complete,
- Easily updateable because changes are a
fact of life in design, analysis,
manufacturing, in quality, and in the field,
- Exchangeable as it is rare that the same
facility or company over time will be the
only one to build a design. At some point,
manufacturing will be outsourced, and a
substitute supplier will start building the
same composite structure.

No65 May June 2011 / jec composites magazine

Feature aeronautics

Any country with a modern aerospace

industry is interested in developing UAVs
because they are much less expensive to
manufacture and operate than manned
aircraft. However, UAVs are increasingly
becoming high-performance vehicles,
featuring increased payload, speed, and
duration.
Since the main purpose of a UAV is to
carry sensors or weapons, any additional
weight in the airframe reduces the amount
available for payload or fuel. This decreases
its capabilities and/or how long it can stay
aloft. Because the airframe takes up so
much of the gross vehicle take-off weight,
minimizing the number of pounds opens

up the possibility of creating a better

performing UAV.

Also, optimizing the design through cycles

to reduce weight and improve
performance is difficult without a
structured design data set. A structured
description of the design for analysis is also
required to perform this function
efficiently.

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software
that their design models will accurately
reflect performance. This makes
certification of the UAV more
straightforward and attainable.

Fig. 3: Example of a wing skin designed with Vistagys FiberSIM software during a
CAD modelling session. Shown are the results of the producibility simulation of a
ply definition across multiple zones of the design. The zone definition of the design
enables direct mapping of structural requirements to the composite definition and
quick updates from subsequent structural analyses

The way to meet the above requirements is

by using a composite design system along
with a CAD/PLM system that controls the
design. Composite design systems plug
into the native CAD platform and offer a
suite of tools that help to verify the
completeness of the composite definition
by including design rules tailored to the
standards of the industry. Vistagys
FiberSIM is one such solution.
The tools within the composite design
software also help to determine the actual
fibre orientation of the design and
communicate it to analysis tools in a
format appropriate for import. This avoids
manual interactions with the data that can
cause errors and helps to speed up the
design-to-analysis cycle. The way to
optimize UAVs for weight and cost is to
increase the number of analysis
optimization cycles on these airframes.

Getting certified
Eventually, UAVs will fly in civilian
airspace and will require a certification for
type design similar to that of manned
aircraft. This will mean that the
development of UAVs will need to follow

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standards similar to commercial aircraft.

The industry is not there yet but it is
moving in that direction. As it does, having
a more complete and reportable set of
analysis data will be critical to ensure that
the UAV is sufficiently robust.
For example, as part of airworthiness
certification, the different parts of the
aircraft structure must be loaded to failure
and that data used to confirm that the
analysis of the structure is correct. Because
of the complex nature of composite
materials and the challenges of getting asmanufactured fibre orientation data for
analysis, agreement between predicted and
actual failure loads can be difficult to
achieve.
Using composite design tools to create the
definition of the design helps to identify
the as-manufactured fibre orientations.
That data is used for manufacturing
planning, and thus assures that the fibre
orientations are correct.
The ability to match a designs analysis
model with the as-manufactured definition
gives UAV developers more confidence

jec composites magazine / No65 May June 2011

Beyond this initial testing, the aircraft must

have a plan for maintenance as part of
continuing airworthiness requirements.
This plan must include requirements for
periodic inspection and maintenance as
well as a complete overhaul of the
airframe. Since a greater fraction of the
airframe structure in new UAVs is made of
composites, the plan must address the
needs for designing repairs of composite
structures. This requires that the initial
definition of the composite structure be
available for the design of repairs.
Therefore, the composite structure must
be well defined and available for use as part
of the on-going maintenance of the
aircraft.

Facilitating growth
UAVs are poised for remarkable growth as
they continue to develop in size and
diversity of use. One industry source
reported that approximately $1.5 billion
was spent globally during 2008 on UAVs
and that figure is expected to grow by
300% over the next decade.
Central to this growth is the incorporation
of composite technologies in the airframe.
Composites give the craft its lightweight,
high strength-to-weight, and high stiffnessto-weight properties. But designing,
manufacturing, and maintaining
composite structures is difficult, if not
impossible, without advanced engineering
solutions. These solutions capture the
composite design and ensure that the
UAV can carry the required loads, be
manufactured to a precise standard, and
meet certification requirements.
Vistagys FiberSIM provides just such
capabilities, enabling manufacturers to
develop UAVs that are higher quality,
lower cost, and more straightforward to
produce. n
More information:
www.vistagy.com