Vittorio Cipolla

The PrandtlPlane Configuration: Overview on Possible Applications to Civil Aviation

The term PrandtlPlane indicates an aircraft configuration based on a box-like lifting system in the front view. The PrandtlPlane configuration allows one to conceive many different aircrafts for both passenger and freighter aviation, ranging from small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to very large civil aircrafts, much larger than the present largest ones; different engine and propulsion systems became possible in view of the so-called “green aviation” of the future.

HyPSim: A Simulation Tool for Hybrid Aircraft Performance Analysis

This work presents performance prediction contribution provided by the research team at the University of Pisa. The results are part of the HYPSTAIR (Development and validation of hybrid propulsion system components and sub-systems for electrical aircraft) European project on the development and validation of hybrid propulsion system components and sub-systems for electrical aircraft. The first part of the paper discusses the performance analysis of a serial hybrid general aviation airplane for a reference mission profile. In particular, the best flight performance is evaluated varying the relevant mission parameters (e.g. range, cruise altitude, and cruise speed) and the amount of available energy, in terms batteries and fuel. In the second part, a hybrid plane simulator, conceived to implement different mission profiles and to include pilot effects on power management by adopting a human-in-the-loop approach, is presented. Such simulator consists of three main software modules linked to each other in real time: a flight simulator, used to compute the aerodynamic forces and to visualize the airplane in flight, a flight planner, in which the mission profile can be defined, and a performance module, which calculates the instantaneous consumption of energy and provides the endurance prediction.

Design of a prototype of light amphibious prandtlplane

The present paper describes the activities carried out during the research project “IDINTOS”, co-funded by the Regional Government of Tuscany (Italy), coordinated by the University of Pisa and carried out by a consortium of public bodies and private firms. The project, started in 2011 and lasted 30 months, aimed to the design and manufacturing of a ultralight amphibious PrandtlPlane prototype. The PrandtlPlane is a particular box-wing configuration, studied at University of Pisa since 1990s, whose main advantages are the improvement of aerodynamic efficiency and flight safety. The paper underlines some of the results of the project, achieved by means of both numerical and experimental analyses, which confirm such advantages and provide data about drag reduction, stall behavior, longitudinal stability and maneuverability.

Design of Solar Powered Unmanned Biplanes for HALE Missions

Some of the results of a research about the design of solar powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to be used in High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) missions are given. The proposed airframe architecture has a biplane layout, conceived to face the most significant challenge for this kind of aircraft: to fly at high altitude, under wintertime conditions and for a wide range of latitude angles. The Solar Powered Biplane (SPB) concept is presented as well as the related design procedure, which can be used to define UAVs for different purposes and mission conditions, such as loiter altitude, latitude and year’s day. A presentation of the design method is given, providing details about models for Aerodynamics, Flight Mechanics, energy balance evaluation, structural analysis and propulsion system sizing. As a particular result of this research, an SPB configuration capable to meet some of the requirements indicated by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as goals of the HALE flight, is illustrated. Such aircraft, which can operate in each year’s day, at latitudes up to 45° and altitudes up to 18 000 m, is described in details, and a flexibility analysis for different mission conditions is carried out.

Bioinspired Mechanisms and Sensorimotor Schemes for Flying: A Preliminary Study for a Robotic Bat

The authors present a critical review on flying motion and echolocation in robotics, directly derived from research on biology and flight mechanics of bats, aimed at designing and prototyping a new generation of robotic technologies.

A personal robotic flying machine with vertical takeoff controlled by the human body movements

We propose a cooperative research project aimed at designing and prototyping a new generation of personal flying robotic platform controlled by movements of the human body using a symbiotic human-robot-flight machine interaction. Motors with ducted fun propulsion and power supply, and a VSLAM system will be integrated in the final flight machine with short and vertical takeoff and landing capability and composite (or light alloy) airframe structure for low speed and low altitude flight. In the project, we will also develop a flight simulator to test the interaction between the flying machine and the human body movements. In this first step, for human safety, the flying machine will be controlled by an autopilot colligated in a closed-loop control with the simulator.