Unmanned Solutions All-purpose Unmanned Aircraft Systems • 1
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K series
Highly modular tactical unmanned aircraft The K series is the 4th generation of unmanned platforms designed and engineered by Unmanned Solutions. Built with modularity in mind, a system suited to your needs is available.
Proven aeronautical concepts
Eliminating the life support systems and security measures of manned aircraft, UAS designers feel free to experiment with novel configurations. At Unmanned Solutions, we believe that, unless your objective is aeronautical experimentation, it is better to limit your imagination. Therefore, we based the design of our airframes on a well-tested motor glider configuration, focusing our efforts on optimizing and fine-tuning their performance on each successive generation of aircraft, processing real data measured in flight.
Meticulous manufacturing process From the initial sketch to the final manufactured product, Unmanned Solutions maintains the highest design, engineering, and manufacturing aerospace standards.
Components and subsystems are aeronautical grade, ensuring full traceability of the system and interchangeability of all constituent parts. The existence of a complete digital model of the aircraft simplifies the customization of the system to best suit mission requirements. The modularity of the K family, sharing numerous components among different models, ensures that your investment is secure as your unmanned needs evolve over time.
Superior performance and reliability
The result is exceptionally stable and versatile aircraft with unparalleled performance in their category. K systems have been conceived to endure real flight conditions, ensuring satisfactory years of operation if the end user follows all procedures and maintenance recommendations. With an outstanding useful load to maximum weight ratio of up to 52% and extremely low fuel consumption, K systems surpass the functionality of much bigger systems, with reduced operation and maintenance needs and requiring a substantially lower initial investment. Offering a useful load capacity of up to 75 kg, or a maximum endurance of more than 20 hours in the maximum fuel configuration, K systems provide the best value for money in the unmanned systems market.
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Equipment and options
The K series is a comprehensive family of small- to medium-sized UAS From low-budget research applications to highly demanding long endurance applications, there is a K model suited to your needs.
Definition Fuselage Wings Wingspan (Standard) Wingspan (Optional) Powerplant Fuel injection Propeller Optional Parachute Fuel system Optional Brakes Optional Lights Electrical system Optional Actuators
k50
k100
K130-LM
k150
Affordable unmanned vehicle for research applications Reinforced fiber glass Composite materials
Lightweight all-purpose tactical unmanned aircraft Carbon fiber Carbon fiber
Light MALE unmanned aircraft Carbon fiber Carbon fiber
High capacity tactical unmanned aircraft Carbon fiber Carbon fiber
4m
5m
6m
6m
– Two cylinder, two stroke, 150 cc gas engine Powerplant electronic management system (PEMS) Fixed blade – Mechanical Internal fuel tank – No
6m Monocylinder, two stroke, 230 cc gas engine Powerplant electronic management system (PEMS) Fixed blade Variable pitch Ballistic Internal fuel tank External fuel tanks Hydraullic remotely operated (standard in the 6 m version) Hydraullic remotely operated (optional in the 5 m version) Yes 2,000 W alternator – Aeronautical certified actuators
Two cylinder, two stroke, heavyweight fuel engine Powerplant electronic management system (PEMS) Variable pitch – Mechanical Internal fuel tank – No
– Monocylinder, two stroke, 230 cc gas engine Powerplant electronic management system (PEMS) Variable pitch – Ballistic Internal and external fuel tanks – Hydraullic remotely operated
Hydraullic remotely operated
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Yes 500 W alternator – Aeronautical certified actuators
Yes 2,000 W alternator – Aeronautical certified actuators
– No Batteries (not included) 600 W alternator Industrial grade actuators
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Unmanned Systems for global monitoring applications
Surveillance and reconnaissance are the prime applications for UAS today With more than 20 hours of endurance and extremely stable flight, our UAS are perfectly suited to perform long and thorough flight plans covering an extensive region or following a lineal infrastructure.
In general terms, unmanned systems provide several advantages over manned aircraft in global monitoring applications with substantially lower operation and maintenance costs, while offering better suitability to long and tedious routine missions, which are usually very easy to automate. Adding to these benefits, Unmanned Solutions K systems can be equipped with sensing equipment that would normally require much bigger aircraft or impose drastic restrictions on mission duration. For that reason, K systems are extremely well suited to most monitoring applications. A complete system comprising three aircraft and a single ground station can support 24/7 operations in fully automatic operation, using a combination of multispectral cameras, LIDARs, SARs or other specialized sensors. 6•
Technical Specifications
Outstanding performance for extremely cost-efficient UAS The K series has been crafted to obtain the best useful load to MTOW ratios on the market.
k50
k100-5
K100-6
k130-LM
k150
4.20 m (13.78 ft) 1.05 m (3.44 ft) 2.90 m (9.51 ft)
5.20 m (16.40 ft) 1.13 m (3.71 ft) 3.08 m (10.10 ft)
6.26 m (20.54 ft) 1.13 m (3.71 ft) 3.08 m (10.10 ft)
6.26 m (20.54 ft) 1.13 m (3.71 ft) 3.08 m (10.10 ft)
6.26 m (20.54 ft) 1.13 m (3.71 ft) 3.08 m (10.10 ft)
50 kg (110 lb) 30 kg (66 lb) 20 kg (44 lb) 40%
100 kg (220 lb) 70 kg (154 lb) 30 kg (66 lb) 30%
110 kg (242 lb) 70 kg (154 lb) 40 kg (88 lb) 36%
130 kg (287 lb) 62 kg (137 lb) 68 kg (150 lb) 52%
150 kg (330.69 lb) 75 kg (176.37 lb) 75 kg (154.32 lb) 50%
130 km/h (81 mph) 80 km/h (50 mph) 65 km/h (40 mph)
160 km/h (99 mph) 100 km/h (62 mph) 79 km/h (49 mph)
140 km/h (87 mph) 94 km/h (58 mph) 70 km/h (43 mph)
190 km/h (118 mph) 130 km/h (81 mph) 110 km/h (68 mph)
180 km/h (112 mph) 120 km/h (75 mph) 90 km/h (56 mph)
>5 h 20.0 l (4.4 gal) 3,000 m (9,850 ft)
>7 h 30.0 l (6.6 gal) 4,000 m (13,125 ft)
>12 h 50.0 l (11.0 gal) 5,000 m (16,400 ft)
>20 h 80.0 l (17.6 gal) 6,500 m (21,325 ft)
>18 h 80.0 l (17.6 gal) 6,000 m (19,675 ft)
DIMENSIONS Wingspan Height Length
WEIGTHS A. Maximum takeoff weight B. Maximum zero fuel weight C. Useful load (A-B) Useful load to MTOW ratio (C/A %)
SPEEDS Dash speed Loiter speed Stall speed1
OTHER SPECIFICATIONS Maximum endurance2 Fuel capacity3 Effective ceiling
Stall speed assumming flaps are not extended. Maximum endurance has been calculated at 1,500 m (4,900 ft) flight height for the K50 model, 2,000 m (6,000 ft) for the K100 and K150 models and 5,000 m (16,000 ft) for the K100-LM model. 3 Fuel capacity expressed in imperial gallons. 1 Imp. gal = 4.5461 l. 1
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Ample electrical power for the most demanding applications
Up to six external anchoring points
Our 6-m-wingspan models have six external anchoring points to transport optional external fuel tanks and four additional sensors (4- and 5-m-wingspan models have four anchor points).
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Fuel system flexibility Spacious cargo bay
For large equipment, the cargo bay offers up to 70 l of well-protected and clear space, with immediate access thanks to the big flip-over canopy.
Based on mission requirements, users can combine internal and external fuel tanks up to 80 liters of fuel capacity. We offer flexible, crash-resistant fuel bladders with explosion-suppressant foam for added security.
Our systems can be equipped with electric power generation systems to support aircraft electrical systems and payload power requirements during the entire mission, eliminating the need to rely on batteries. Alternators with a capacity of up to 2,000 W are available.
Braking system
As an additional security measure, our biggest systems provide remotely operated hydraulic braking systems to reduce the length requirements for landing runways.
Non-destructive security parachute
Our custom-designed ballistic parachute provides for safe recovery of the aircraft in the case of a severe malfunction, and, in the future, may be used as a standard recovery system when no suitable runways are available.
Powerplant electronic management system (PEMS)
The PEMS manages and control all engine processes: fuel mixture and injection, altitude compensation, ignition, speed control, etc. The PEMS communicates directly with the FCS to anticipate power requirements and uses the most efficient strategy, resulting in fuel savings of 35% and, combined with a variable pitch propeller, an effective ceiling of 6,000 m (19,700 ft).
Complete documentation set
Our systems are perfectly documented. The detailed Aircraft Flight Manual/ Pilot Operating Handbook contains all relevant performance data to safely and efficiently operate the aircraft, a Maintenance Manual and full disassembly diagrams.
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Engineering
The K series benefits from years of experience and a meticulous engineering design process Three premises guided the design of the K series: superior performance, modularity between different models (to share the maximum number of components) and design versatility (to accommodate a varied range of requirements for different mission profiles).
Aerodynamical engineering
Full digital model in CATIA v5
Following the preliminary conceptual design, the airfoil was refined using 2D CFD simulations in FLUENT, confirmed afterwards with a wind tunnel test of the final airfoil.
A digital model was used to generate the meshes used in the structural analysis and CFD simulations and is the key to ensure the custom-made parts comply with our specifications.
Pressure and load distribution alongside the wingspan, needed for the structural analysis, were determined using vortex-lattice algorithms.
For our clients, the model simplifies the initial integration of mission equipment and, during the life of the system, facilitates adaptations as equipment needs evolve over time.
The extraordinary performance of the K series is a direct consequence of the meticulous aeronautical engineering process that has been followed in designing the wings and other key components of the aircraft.
Finally, the entire aircraft was modeled and several critical flight conditions were simulated using 3D CFD methods.
With more than 200 different parts, many of them custom designed, and tolerances in the micron range, the investment in creating (and maintaining) a full digital model of the system pays for itself.
Structural engineering
A thorough structural analysis of the airframe has been performed to reduce its empty weight without compromising security or degrading performance. As an example, the skin and spars of the wings have three different thicknesses along the wingspan, resulting in a reduction of nearly 30% of the weight of each wing. The internal arrangement of structural elements controls the deformation under high load conditions, increasing the admissible MTOW and ensuring full aerodynamic control even in severe gusty winds.
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Unmanned platforms for Research and Development
All of our systems have been tested in R&D projects Since our first K1, a modified aeromodel used to test flight control algorithms, we have used all of our successive generations of UAS in projects as diverse as developing artificial vision algorithms to enhance landing operations or using unmanned systems to test high-lift devices for commercial aircraft.
At Unmanned Solutions, Research and Development is not just a way to keep up with the latest technologies but also a substantial part of our company values. Unmanned Solutions actively participated in 10 R&D projects related to aeronautics and development of control systems for unmanned operation of aircraft, in association with leading international aeronautical firms. Some of these projects have resulted in specific enhancements implemented in our systems, while others have demonstrated the airworthiness of our aircraft in the most varied flight circumstances. Unmanned Solutions routinely collaborates with the most prestigious scientific institutions, in mutually beneficial economic conditions, to promote the use of unmanned aircraft for advancing science as well as for developing technology in the unmanned flight sector. 12 •
Manufacturing and Quality assurance
Unmanned Solutions has selected a group of high-quality suppliers to produce the K series
Manufacturing planning
The K series is our first completely industrialized generation of UAS. We spent two years looking all over the world for the best workshops, with the capacity and willingness to work on scaled-down parts while maintaining the quality standards of big commercial aircraft. We work closely with our key suppliers to ensure that our systems are produced on time.
Aeronautical grade components and materials
The airframe, including the fuselage, wings, control surfaces and fairings1, is made with autoclave cured pre-preg fiber carbon composites using the same procedures as the leading aeronautical firms, including individual identification and ultrasound scans of 100% of the critical pieces.
Final assembly and quality control
The final stage of the manufacturing process is performed in our in-house workshop where all parts are received and individually tested to ensure that our exigent quality standard is honored. The airframe is assembled, client modifications are performed, and payload, avionics and other mission control equipment are installed and tested.
Other parts, such as electrical servos, connectors, cables and mechanical pieces, are certified for general aeronautical use. 1
Except in the K50 model.
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Services provided using unmanned systems Unmanned Aircraft Technologies is the service provider subsidiary of Unmanned Solutions
The government and civil markets for unmanned systems will be based on services provided by specialized companies to end users.
Unmanned Solutions provides consultancy, training and maintenance services to its clients to ensure that they are able to obtain the best value for our systems. For clients with no previous experience in operating aircraft (manned or unmanned) or in cases in which clients have sporadic needs, we have reached an agreement with Prointec, a leading engineering multinational, to completely take over the entire operation of unmanned missions. Services can be provided in either medium- or long-term contracts, using systems owned by the client, or on a pay-as-you-go basis with our own fleet of unmanned systems. 14 •
About Unmanned Solutions A passion for unmanned systems
Unmanned Solutions is a technology based company originated within the Aeronautical and Space school of Madrid wholly devoted to the design, engineering and manufacturing of unmanned aircraft systems.
Academic origins
Our founders are researchers from the Aeronautical and Space Engineering School of Madrid. Unmanned Solutions is a spin-off from the Dynamic Systems Research Group, with more than 30 years’ experience in automatic flight control, and involved in unmanned aircraft systems design since 2004.
Passion for aeronautics
Our employees are young and passionate aeronautical engineers fulfilling their dream of making a substantial contribution in creating an aircraft, from the initial concept to the final product in flight. This is possible only in a company like Unmanned Solutions. Thus, we are very fortunate to have attracted an impressive group of talented individuals who have made our K series possible in record time, with limited resources.
Service oriented company
We develop very strong links with our clients and suppliers, frequently participating in joint development projects to enhance our products or their applications. Even though our systems have been conceived and built with versatility in mind, we are happy to work with our clients to further customize our products to better suit their needs. Through our services subsidiary, we can take over the operation and maintenance of the flight platforms or even of the whole application.
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Unmanned Solutions, S.L. Milán, 34 28043 Madrid – Spain usol@usol.es www.usol.es 16 •