Conceptual Design of a NEW Recovery System for Small Fixed-Wing UAVs

Sammanfattning

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming an important part of modern rescueoperations where quick access to information can save lives. Small fixed-wingUAVs help the Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS) gain situational awareness, butrecovering these UAVs after a mission comes with challenges. Today, they land onwater, which works though it slows down urgent missions. Retrieval can also bedifficult in bad weather, and occasionally the UAVs are lost or damaged. The goalof this thesis is to develop a new land-based recovery system to safely catch SSRS’ssmall fixed-wing UAVs without adding extra components to the fixed-wing UAV.To achieve this, the thesis begins by introducing the problem and reviewing existingrecovery methods (from hooks and nets to more advanced control-based approaches)before detailing how concepts were generated, compared, and refined through astructured design process. The final concept combines a precise XY alignment subsystem,inspired by the motion control in 3D printers, with a mechanical capturesubsystem that captures the UAV without damaging it. Based on kinematic simulationand subsystem-level evaluations, the recovery system is capable of workingin practice and offers a clear path towards physical prototyping. The thesis ends byoutlining the next steps needed to bring this recovery system closer to real-worldtesting and future use in SSRS rescue missions