Nano and Micro Aerial Vehicles

Nano Aerial Vehicles and Micro Aerial Vehicles are primarily used for military applications which include Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR missions), and used for both indoor and outdoor missions, which represents a challenging environment factor to overcome. The use of MAVs and NAVs reduce human risk as it does not require an on-board pilot for the mission, they also tend to improve the assessment of danger and have visibility in the dark when equipped with infrared cameras. Other payload equipment include numerous tactical and strategic advantages integrated with the use sensors for high risk applications to locate and analyse biological and chemical gases as well as nuclear radiation and other threats as stated by Petricca, Ohlckers and Grinde (2011). Historically, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles is credited to advances of model airplanes throughout the 19th and 20th century; Mueller (2011) states that the 19th century brought about the development of model sized airplanes which lead to the 20th century integrating its technological advancements in radio receivers and propulsion systems to develop radio controlled airplanes. Moreover, it should be noted that propulsion systems were enriched drastically from simple rubber band propellers to liquid fuel internal combustion engines and electrical motors powered by batteries and fuel cells. However, in order to comprehend the various types propulsion systems employed on board the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), certain parameters and configurations of Nano and Micro Air Vehicles must be explored along with its aerodynamic constraints. Firstly, NAVs and MAVs are subclasses of UAVs; it is critical to note that NAVs are limited to being less than or equal to 7.5 cm in length, width or height, while maintaining a weight which is less than 10 grams as defined by Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1997 . Whereas, MAVs are limited to having a maximum wingspan length of

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