WHY DUCTED FAN UAV?
Ducted fan UAVs with vertical takeoff and landing provide many advantages to their equivalent fixed- and open-wing counterparts. When it comes to safety, payload, and scalability, the ducted fan UAV is incomparable.
- The vehicle's propeller is shrouded, allowing safe approach to specific areas of interest and preventing the user from risk or injury so it is much safer than an open blade or propeller. The shroud has other effects that when designed correctly can reduce noise due to the fan. Half of the lift is coming from the duct.
- Ducted fan UAVs maintain a higher payload to stored volume ratio. The vehicle can carry 4x the payload of a similar footprint fixed- or open-rotor UAV. This makes it convenient for the user to transport to the operating site and carry today's payloads.
- The ducted fan is more efficient than the multi-copters. The structure does not interfere with the airflow. The motor is sized to meet the payload/altitude/endurance where the multi-copter has to also large margins for control power.
- With AVID's design experience and multidisciplinary tools, ducted fan UAVs are easily scaled to specific missions or applications. AVID has designed and tested vehicles that are as small as 6 inches in diameter to carry a few ounces that hover and stare for 10 minutes or they can carry a 23 pound payload and operate for two hours; the applications are limitless.
These are a few of the many advantages to using ducted fan UAVs. The design and flight control is more involved than the multi rotor platform, but the noise, safety, payload, precision hover, footprint, robustness, and control advantages make it worth the extra effort. To find out more about why ducted fan UAVs are a more desirable candidate than fixed- or open-rotor UAVs for your applications, view AVID's presentation "The Case for Ducted Fan VTOL."
Capabilities Comparison: Ducted-Fan UAV v. Quad-Rotor UAV