ROTARY UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (RUAV)
Rotary Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (RUAV) are very new in the world. While fixed wing airplanes have been flying autonomously for a half a century almost, helicopter’s aerodynamics have been impossible to monitor and control autonomously. Helicopters are very unstable aerial platforms. When Leonardo Da Vinci designed the first helicopter in his sketches he did not even dream that one day rotorcraft would fly on their own hovering steady in the air, receiving commands from a ground operator.
RUAV ADVANTAGES
RUAVs have several advantages over fixed wing aircrafts:
- VTOL Vertical Take Off and Landing eliminates the need for a runway. The mobility to lift off and land from any terrain
- Lift off is fast and immediate. Regret landing? lift off again
- Hovering in the air without movement allows perfect camera pictures and angles. A camera on a mobile pole
- Hovering in low altitude hard to get spots. Go where no airplane can go
- Can maneuver in all directions and at slow speeds. Never miss a target
- Winds, especially side winds, less affect RUAVs than fixed wing UAVs
- Overall wingspan is smaller in an RUAV than a UAV of the same weight
These features provide the RUAV user the ability to perform the required mission more efficiently. Tracking and monitoring is simpler for the operator.
