Author(s)

Daeil Jo, Yongjin Kwon^*

Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Ajou University, Suwon, South Korea.

Recently, the surge in the interests in unmanned aerial vehicles has soared dra-matically worldwide due to many potential benefits foreseen by this technology. The most widespread use of the commercial drones is a multi-copter form of unmanned aerial vehicle, because of its vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. However, due to the structural characteristics, it has a disadvantage that the flight time is quite short, which is typically ranging between 15 to 30 minutes. The fixed wing type of unmanned aerial vehicles has a longer flight time and duration, but it is not easy to secure a safe landing space, especially in the city areas. For this reason, demand for vertical fixed take-off and landing aircraft is rapidly increasing throughout the world. This study analyzes the trends and recent development of global VTOL technology and provides a direction into which the current state of the technology should be heading. By comparing the advantage and disadvantage of various VTOP propulsion types, we can clearly identify the most effective form of VTOL propulsion types. Such analysis will be highly beneficial to the drone researchers and scientists in terms of future development.

VTOL, UAV, Tail Sitter, Tilt Wing, Fixed Wing, Tiltrotor, Vertical Takeoff and Landing

Jo, D. and Kwon, Y. (2017) Analysis of VTOL UAV Propellant Technology. Journal of Computer and Communications, 5, 76-82. doi: 10.4236/jcc.2017.57008.