Red Cactus Wildlife Vertical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aircraft System

The objective of this project is to design, manufacture, and test an unmanned aircraft system capable of vertical takeoff and landing for wildlife surveillance. Red Cactus is a blended-body flying wing with vertical-thrusting ducted propellers and a horizontal-thrusting pusher propeller that enable vertical, horizontal, and hover flight modes. This hybrid design allows the aircraft to take off from a stationary ground position, cruise four miles to a desired target, loiter over the target for 15 minutes, and cruise back to the original location to land. Hybrid aircraft combine elements of fixed-wing aircraft with elements of multirotor aircraft to deliver multifaceted mission capabilities. The aircraft has no tail so its wing is constructed with an Eppler 330 reflex airfoil to provide stability during cruise. The aircraft cruises at 36 mph at of 500 feet above ground level, using elevons (ailerons combined with an elevator) on each wing as control surfaces. The aircraft weighs 12 pounds and is fabricated from various weights of vacuum-formed composite fiberglass for the outer skin, carbon fiber tubing, plastic parts made using a 3-D printer, and balsa wood ribs for the internal structure. The internal structure consists of a network of spars joined to a large, stiff duct located in the center of the blended body, which houses two 15-inch counter-rotating lifting propellers.