A Conceptual Design Framework For Safety-Critical Drones

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The proposed research program will create a framework for developing new conceptual design methodologies that will provide designers with the capability to explore and evaluate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designs and technologies. The main novelties will be integrating safety and reliability aspects into the design and sizing optimization and providing advanced design exploration capabilities. Background UAVs have the potential to positively change people's daily lives with applications such as urban air taxis, flying ambulances, fast delivery of Covid-19 vaccines in the Canadian North, emergency delivery of defibrillators and optimal transport of organ transplants. Such applications involve operating beyond the visual line of sight and over people in densely populated areas and are safety critical. Failures leading to an uncontrollable vehicle can cause catastrophic accidents if the vehicle collides with humans, aircraft, or infrastructure. Another major challenge is to achieve high energy efficiency by optimizing weight. The emerging fully electric solutions accentuate this challenge due to the limited energy density of the batteries. Hence, the emergence of innovative UAVs for safety-critical applications will depend on the designers' ability to explore and optimize designs for energy efficiency, safety, and reliability. However, the current state of the art lacks UAV conceptual design methodologies that take safety and reliability into account and allow exploration of designs and technologies. Scientific approach The proposed program will be based on the following two research objectives (ROs): - RO1 will develop new methodologies to define the relevant safety and reliability requirements based on a concept of operation and the applicable airworthiness regulations. RO1 will also develop new methodologies to integrate controllability assessment into reliability formulation and computation, taking into account flight phase transitions. - RO2 will develop new estimation and simulation models for UAV concepts and alternative energy systems such as hybrid vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fixed-wing concepts and hybrid electric-powered solutions. These models will enable the development of new sizing methodologies that will take redundancy into account and permit exploration of the design. RO2 will also develop new methodologies to integrate the failure cases in the sizing optimization. Significance The proposed program will contribute to advancing the fields of design for reliability and multidisciplinary design analysis and optimization. More specifically, the program will provide effective means to make optimal decisions in the conceptual design phase of UAVs. In addition, the program will train highly qualified personnel (HQP) with a new set of safety-critical drone design skills. This way, this program will provide a strategic advantage to the emerging Canadian drone industry in a very competitive international environment.