Inflatable wing design for micro UAVs using indirect 3D printing

Micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provide beyond-line-of-sight situational awareness to frontline troops and minimize unnecessary loss of lives. The micro UAVs can be manually launched in the field. Inflatable wing is a potential way to increase the packing efficiency of the micro UAVs and reduce the load on troops. In this paper, novel inflatable wing design is proposed to address limitations encountered in existing designs. The proposed design can reduce weight and complexity while increasing aerodynamic performance. An indirect 3D printing method is investigated to fabricate the proposed inflatable wing with the hexagonal diamond structure.