I need to design a Long Range (Endurance of 60km, and flight time of 1hour) UAV that can carry a payload of 4kg. This is for Participating in
UAV Challenge Medical Express, which is supposedly the world's most difficult UAV competition.
You can find out more about the competition here.
https://uavchallenge.org/medical-express/

So, the basic design came out to be a 2.5 to 3m wingspan twin boom pusher, with 4/8 electric motors for VTOL and 1 IC Engine for Cruise.
I want to know what is the best choice of material(s) that can be used for the same.

Our Team has different thicknesses of Balsa from 1mm to 10mm (probably even thicker balsa sheets are available)
What other material should I use?

P.S.  I want to build this before Maker Faire Bengaluru, which will be held on 17th and 18th November, in order to raise some funds for the project

Bro , Anyone from beginners to experts know the best material for a high endurance UAV.  Carbon Fiber is like the best material ,  but it's too expensive . I'd go for balsa with Aluminium as well as CF rods

Wow!!! This seems like a really interesting project. The difficult part seems to be the endurance and flight time. I am sorry I do not have any input to give you but all the best. I really hope you win. This is so interesting. I am excited. All the best man.

Nitesh.

Thanks! Will keep updating the progress on a separate thread once we start off.

Happy Diwali Topalle and all RCIers!

An IC engine for cruising one hour could be a little tricky. Glow Engine tanks are usually designed for endurance of about 15 minutes. If you indiscriminately increase tank size, it could lead to other problems, like uneven fuel flow, bubbles in the line etc. Gas engines tend to be heavy

What do anticipate the weight of the model to be?

Actually the mission profile requires us to pass through waypoints, the total distance (one way comes to around 25km)but at all times, distance from base would be under 12km.
Time for the total Mission is 1 hour, so cruise part of it would be around 40 minutes, with 10 minutes or so hover time and 10 minutes ground time.
Other teams have come up with various solutions, but the one closest to our design was having a Max take off weight of 12-14kg. They had used an IC engine, and 8 VTOL motors.
They were using an airframe called Mugin.
Canberra UAV the winners of last year had a setup like this.

http://canberrauav.org.au/guide/system-overview/

Call me. My mob.no. is 8970522845.
I can help you.

The Canberra used a DLE 35 gas engine, 2.7 l tank with 100 cc intermediate tank. Makes sense

I am Still confused what to use as material of construction. I've never built such a big plane before
I think these are my options
1) Balsa & C.F.
2) Only Balsa
3) Plywood
4) Fiber Glass&Balsa

Is there any other better combination?

Wood (structure) and Foam (body) with fiber glassing.
This is the method used to build large airliners by Deamon driver on Rcgroups.
I don't know much about this technique. Just remembered it so though why not mention it ?
Check out his YouTube channel.
Regards

Hi Srinivas,
Saw your PM.
Still thinking about the possible airframe configuration and construction materials.
(Since I don't know anything about autonomous flight...)

Got some doubts.
1. Why do you need VTOL?
2. I presume finance will not be a limiting factor
3. But time may be. How much time do you have?
4. Can you send a link to the task objective?

I understand that the reason most such projects fail, is because the the basic airframe/engine have not been flown enough to gain experience of the flight envelope/behaviour.

The issues are
1. Will it take off, fly and land reliably when flown by a competent RC pilot?
2. Will it fly reliably with payload?

Autonomous flight issues come only after these basics are resolved.

Look forward to updates
Regards

Before considering exotic materials, perhaps you should consider CORO.

Sanjayrai55 is the person you should consult on the feasibility of a 9 foot span model in coro, and its likely bare airframe weight.

Eight of the fifty five teams are Indian.
Which is your team?

You have to demonstrate 5 hours of autonomous flight to be in the invited 20?

At least you have till 11th April 2018 to submit your proof of flight video!

Yes. Our team is Aero BMSCE.
By April  11th 2018 we need to submit the technical report, and flight video. By August we need to submit the log of 5 hours of autonomous flight.

1) VTOL is needed because the landing zone at the sample collection point does not allow for a regular landing. There are trees, buildings, etc. It has been mentioned in the rulebook.

2) We wish to complete it within a reasonable budget, as our sources of funds are College (around 40-50k + materials available in stock + manufacturing facility)

Bro , the best bet is this UAV , Seen on TV , uses just balsa wood , you could use some CF too. But please don't make it look homemade.

You can use this method to make something a bit more fast and sleek

It's "Gemini v2.
http://www.bearospaceindustries.com/give-me-more-data.html

can you send a link to that video?

There are links for the plans for this plane, it's pretty sick , here is the flight video , there are even youtube build videos. Good Luck!

We require a VTOL platform, but we'll look into using this and converting it to Vtol

This can be converted to VTOL

http://www.rcindia.org/self-designed-diy-and-college-projects/team-aero-bmsce-uav-challenge-medical-express-2018

I have created this dedicated thread to update our Progress