A novel hybrid drone for multi-propose aerial transportation and its conceptual optimization based on surrogate approach

Abstract In recent years the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly adopted in various applications of the aerial transportation, meanwhile both the two main classifications, the fixed wing and multi-rotors drones, are limited by their own drawbacks in different specialized domains. In order to improve the short duration of multi-rotor drone and the strict conditions for taking-off and landing of the fixed-wing, an innovative hybrid UAV with integral advantages of “delta+canard wing” and vertical lift-fans has been developed. Meanwhile, the parametrial optimization with multi-objects are discussed based on surrogate model to determine the conception of the delta wing and canard wing, and only the design speed of cruise model is considered, thus excluding the lift fan. Firstly, several parameters are chosen according to precedent experiences and researches, together with the optimal objects and constraint conditions determined by design conditions which are concluded into the typical multi-objective optimal problem; secondly, with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) limited design points generated by meta-model will make up the design of experiment (DOE) to create the response surfaces by means of Kriging method; lastly, the adaptation of the multi-objective genetic algorithm(MOGA) integrating in modeFRONTIER helps to reach the heuristic approach optimization for this problem. Therefore, the final conception of the delta wing and canard wing is achieved to perform the cruise model of the hybrid UAV.