The application of conventional structural certification methods to unmanned aircraft can lead to unacceptably long development times and costs that are out of line with the development costs for the airframe. The aircraft development community needs a different approach toward certification of these vehicles that ensures reliability and safety in flight, but requires less testing than the conventional building block approach used to achieve these goals. The Boeing Company has had the unique opportunity to develop unmanned vehicles for a variety of customers, applications, and missions over the past few years. The customer requirements, the qualification and certification requirements, and the mission requirements have determined the breadth of technologies available for these aircraft. This paper will summarize these various requirements and how they impacted the design space, structural concepts, and material selections for these aircraft. This summary will be the foundation for a recommended approach toward certification of unmanned aircraft structures based on the intended mission (single flight demonstration, multiple flight demonstrations, limited operational usage, or full operational usage). The recommended approach for structural certification of these vehicles reflects its development cost, the lifetime of its service, and the performance requirements of its mission. Thus it will offer the ability to tailor the certification approach according to the projected vehicle usage. In addition it will provide a means for defining additional tests or analyses to aid in the user in certifying such aircraft for missions, lifetimes, or performance capabilities above and beyond its original design parameters.


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    Title :

    Airframe Certification Methods for Unmanned Aircraft


    Contributors:
    C. R. Saff (author)

    Publication date :

    2006


    Size :

    17 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




    Airframe Certification Methods for Unmanned Aircraft

    Saff, C.R. / North Atlantic Treaty Organization | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2007


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