Preliminary design of an unmanned Wing In Ground effect craft.

This paper describes a systematic technique for preliminary conceptual design of Unmanned Wing in Ground Effect Craft (U-WIGs). Application of the methodology to a small U-WIG to be employed in tasks like coastal patrolling, oceanography, civil protection, control and monitoring, is presented. A mission profile and numerical mission specifications on minimum payload weight conveyable, cruising speed, minimum cruising altitude and autonomy suitable for the intended craft duties are imposed. On the basis of such specifications, take off weight is estimated via the fuel fraction method. Due to the lack of statistical information for small sized unmanned WIGs, data available for UAVs are used, …