Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine October 2017 - 38

Feature Article:

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2017.160019

Electronics and Vision System of a Projectile-Drone
Hybrid System
S. Changey, E. Roussel, L. Bernard, S. Schertzer, P. Gnemmi, French-German Research
Institute of Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis, France

INTRODUCTION
In 2009, a roundup of unmanned air vehicle (or drone) activities
in the international context showed that the use of such machines
is paramount. Indeed, drones are of growing interest in several
countries, and the use of these devices flying unmanned seems
particularly well suited for monitoring and detection operations on
sensitive sites or in hostile environments.
For civil security and conflict situations or close combat, an
operator or a group of stakeholders (police, gendarmes, customs
officers, firefighters, and infantry) should be able to use a miniature drone to explore difficult or dangerous areas with immediate
access to the entire field of view, while avoiding human losses.
The capacity of a rotary-wing microair vehicle (MAV) for hovering flight is a huge advantage for close and detailed observations
compared with a classical fixed-wing MAV. However, the long flight
duration to bring a rotary-wing MAV over a site to be observed is a
drawback compared with a fixed-wing MAV. After reviewing various types of existing drones or those under development, a new concept has been proposed: the gun-launched MAV (GLMAV). The expected goal includes bringing the MAV very quickly over the site, so
it becomes operational by using the energy delivered by an external
device. This unique vehicle is packaged into an envelope, becomes a
projectile, and is launched by a portable dedicated tube. Then, when
the projectile reaches its apogee, it is transformed into a MAV platform that becomes operational over the site to be observed. Its main
mission consists in detailed observation over a limited zone located
100 m to 500 m from the launching place. Detailed observation is
achieved by the GLMAV with hovering flight, when video sequences are transmitted to the ground station in real time. High-level orders sent to the MAV platform can give it maneuvering capabilities.
After the mission is accomplished, the GLMAV is recovered at any
point provided before or during the mission.

Authors' current address: S. Changey, E. Roussel, L. Bernard,
S. Schertzer, P. Gnemmi, French-German Research Institute of
Saint-Louis, GNC, 5 Rue du General Cassagnou, Saint-Louis,
68300 France, E-mail: (sebastien.changey@isl.eu).
Manuscript received January 22, 2016, revised June 28, 2016,
December 2, 2016, and ready for publication December 12,
2016.
Review handled by M. De Sanctis.
0885/8985/17/$26.00 © 2017 IEEE
38

The advantages of the GLMAV become evident and are described hereafter (Table 1).
C

C

C

C

The energy necessary to bring the vehicle over the scene to
be observed is provided externally by the dedicated launcher.
A fast intervention is possible because, following the first
investigations of the concept [1], [2], less than 15 seconds
are necessary to stabilize the vehicle over the scene to be observed; considering that a few seconds are needed to prepare
the gun, it is similar to a MAV flying at 100 km/h.
Because the GLMAV components should withstand the
launch acceleration reached in the dedicated tube of the gun,
the MAV platform should be very rigid. Therefore, this gunhardened vehicle is strengthened against wrong handling.
However, the hardening makes the vehicle heavier, which is
a penalty for its autonomy.
The acoustic discretion is ensured because the rotors, which
could generate noise, start to work only about 7 seconds to 8
seconds before the observation is beginning.

Given the dimensions and symmetry constraints imposed by
the concept of launching by cannon effect through a tube, the
rotational speeds involved, and the type of potential missions envisioned, the use of two coaxial counter-rotating rotors emerged
from several platform choices. The choice of this platform is
also justified because the device has to fly in environments perturbed by obstacles of small dimensions or by wind or both. The
urban environment is composed of lampposts, electric cables,
signboards, and many other obstacles not listed on maps. The
capacity for slow cruise flight of a few meters per second is,
thus, essential to the appropriate navigation of the vehicle in its
environment. The wind, blowing in gusts, is a very important
parameter that must be considered because it may completely
destabilize the device to such an extent that it can make the
mission ineffective. Finally, the capacity of the MAV for very
stable hovering flight is necessary for the detailed observation
of a scene, which constitutes the first and main mission of this
type of vehicle.
This new concept is completely detailed, and the first theoretical investigations are provided in [1], [2]. Figure 1 (left) is a photomontage created by using real photographs. It shows the ballistic
launcher, two positions of the GLMAV in ballistic mode, two loca-

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