Drones

Progress in Aerospace Sciences xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx
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Progress in Aerospace Sciences

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Classications, applications, and design challenges of drones: A review

M. Hassanalian, A. Abdelke
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA
A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T
Keywords: Nowadays, there is a growing need for ying drones with diverse capabilities for both civilian and military
Drones applications. There is also a signicant interest in the development of novel drones which can autonomously y
Unmanned air vehicles in dierent environments and locations and can perform various missions. In the past decade, the broad
Micro air vehicles spectrum of applications of these drones has received most attention which led to the invention of various types
Bio-inspiration
of drones with dierent sizes and weights. In this review paper, we identify a novel classication of ying drones
Classications
Fabrication
that ranges from unmanned air vehicles to smart dusts at both ends of this spectrum, with their new dened
applications. Design and fabrication challenges of micro drones, existing methods for increasing their
endurance, and various navigation and control approaches are discussed in details. Limitations of the existing
drones, proposed solutions for the next generation of drones, and recommendations are also presented and
discussed.
1. Introduction drones platforms for civil scientic and military uses based upon
characteristics, such as size, ight endurance, and capabilities. In their
Drones are ying robots which include unmanned air vehicles drones classications, they classied them as MAVs (Micro or
(UAVs) that y thousands of kilometers and small drones that y in Miniature Air Vehicles), NAVs (Nano Air Vehicles), VTOL (Vertical
conned spaces [1,2]. Aerial vehicles that do not carry a human Take-O & Landing), LASE (Low Altitude, Short-Endurance), LASE
operator, y remotely or autonomously, and carry lethal or nonlethal Close, LALE (Low Altitude, Long Endurance), MALE (Medium
payloads are considered as drones [3]. A ballistic or semi-ballistic Altitude, Long Endurance), and HALE (High Altitude, Long
vehicle, cruise missiles, artillery projectiles, torpedoes, mines, and Endurance). In an overview of military drones used by the UK armed
satellites cannot be considered as drones [4]. Advances in fabrication, forces, Brooke-Holland [14] classied drones into three classes. Class I
navigation, remote control capabilities, and power storage systems is subdivided into four categories (a, b, c, and d). The categorization
have made possible the development of a wide range of drones which process is initially based on the minimum take-o weight combined
can be utilized in various situations where the presence of humans is with how the drones are intended to be used and where they are
dicult, impossible, or dangerous [5,6]. Flying robots for military expected to be operated. This classication is shown in Table 1.
surveillance, planetary exploration, and search-and-rescue have re- Arjomandi et al. [15] classied drones on the basis of weight, range
ceived most attention in the past few years [7]. Depending on the ight and endurance, wing loading, maximum altitude, and engine type.
missions of the drones, the size and type of installed equipment are They classied drones as super-heavy with weights more than 2000 kg,
dierent [6]. Considerable advantages of the drones have led to a heavy with weights between 200 kg and 2000 kg, medium with weights
myriad of studies to focus on the optimization and enhancement of the between 50 kg and 200 kg, light/mini with weights between 5 kg and
performances of these drones. According to the mentioned character- 50 kg, and nally micro drones with weights less than 5 kg [15]. This
istics, drones benet from the potential to carry out a variety of classication which is dened based on drones weight is shown in
operations including reconnaissance, patrolling, protection, transpor- Table 2.
tation of loads, and aerology [812]. Gupta et al. [3] classied drones as HALE, MALE, TUAV (medium
Drones often vary widely in their congurations depending on the range or tactical UAV), MUAV or Mini UAV, MAV, and NAV.
platform and mission. There are dierent classications for the drones Cavoukian [16] categorized drones as three main types, namely, micro
based on dierent parameters. Watts et al. [13] described a variety of and mini UAVs, tactical UAVs, and strategic UAVs. He divided the
platforms. They identied advantages of each as relevant to the tactical UAVs into six subcategories: close range, short range, medium
demands of users in the scientic research sector. They classied the range, long range, endurance, and medium altitude long endurance

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Abdelke).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2017.04.003
Received 25 November 2016; Received in revised form 27 April 2017; Accepted 28 April 2017
0376-0421/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article as: Hassanalian, M., Progress in Aerospace Sciences (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paerosci.2017.04.003
M. Hassanalian, A. Abdelke Progress in Aerospace Sciences xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx
Table 1
The proposed drones categorization by Brooke-Holland based on their weight [14].
Class Type Weight range
Class I(a) Nano drones W200 g

Class I(b) Micro drones 200 g < W2 kg
Class I(c) Mini drones 2 kg < W20 kg
Class I(d) Small drones 20 kg < W150 kg Fig. 1. Spectrum of drones from UAV to SD.
Class II Tactical drones 150 kg < W600 kg
Class III MALE/HALE/Strike drones W > 600 kg
in miniaturization of electronic components, such as sensors, micro-
processors, batteries, and navigation systems [23]. A wide variety of
Table 2 drones were used for military and civilian purposes. Drones range in
The proposed drones categorization by Arjomandi et al. based on their weight [15]. size from vast xed-wing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to smart dust
(SD) which consists of many tiny micro-electro-mechanical systems
Designation Weight range including sensors or robots. In Fig. 1, the spectrum of dierent types of
Super heavy W > 2000 kg drones is presented.
Heavy 200 kg < W2000 kg As shown in Fig. 1, there is a spread spectrum of drones from UAV
Medium 50 kg < W200 kg class with maximum wing span of 61 m and weight of 15,000 kg [24] to
Light 5 kg < W50 kg smart dust (SD) with minimum size of 1 mm and weight of 0.005 g
Micro W5 kg
[25]. Between UAV and SD at both ends of the dened spectrum, there
are various types of drones, which are called micro drones, such as
Table 3
micro unmanned air vehicle (UAV), micro air vehicle (MAV), nano air
The proposed drones categorization by Weibel and Hansman based on their weight [17]. vehicle (NAV), and pico air vehicle (PAV) [7]. In this study, we oer a
new classication for drones which covers other types of classications
Designation Weight range with better and more comprehensive categorization. The rest of this
study is organized as follows: the unconventional classication of
Micro W < 2 lbs
Mini 2 lbsW30 lbs drones is presented in Section 2. In Section 3, the various applications
Tactical 30 lbsW1000 lbs of these drones are investigated and discussed. Design and manufac-
Medium and high altitude 1000 lbsW30,000 lbs turing methods and their challenges are, respectively, studied in
Heavy W > 30,000 lbs
Sections 4 and 5. Dierent propulsion systems and actuators for
drones, and their power supply and endurance are shown in Sections
6 and 7, respectively. Control and navigation, and swarm ight of
(MALE) UAVs [16]. Weibel and Hansman [17] classied drones as
drones and conclusions are, respectively, presented in Sections 810.
micro, mini, tactical, medium and high altitude, and heavy types. In
Table 3, the proposed classication is indicated.
Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) [18] categorized 2. Classication of drones
drones into three classes, namely, micro UAVs with weights less than
0.1 kg, small UAVs with weights between 0.1 kg and 150 kg, and large In the recent decades, due to the development of a smaller air drone
UAVs with weights more than 150 kg for xed wing models and more called micro air vehicle, the demands for intelligence missions have
than 100 kg for rotorcrafts [18]. United Kingdom Civil Aviation been increased [26]. Therefore, nowadays, there is a serious eort to
Authority (CAA) [19,20] classied drones into three types consisting of design and fabricate air drones that are very small for special missions.
small unmanned aircraft (weight20 kg), light UAV (20 kg < These eorts have resulted in the development of dierent types of
weight150 kg), and UAV (weight > 150 kg). Zakora and Molodchik small drones with various shapes and ight modes. In Fig. 2, a
[21] classied drones based on their weight and range as follows: micro comprehensive classication of all of the existing drones is shown,
and mini UAV close range, lightweight UAVs small range, lightweight where HTOL is the abbreviation of Horizontal Take-O and Landing.
UAVs medium range, average UAVs, medium heavy drones, heavy Generally, drones can be categorized by their performance char-
medium range UAVs, heavy drone large endurance, and unmanned acteristics. Features including weight, wing span, wing loading, range,
combat aircraft. They also categorized drones based on their missions, maximum altitude, speed, endurance, and production costs, are
namely, (1) attack UAV multiple applications, (2) attack UAV expend- important design parameters that distinguish dierent types of drones
able, (3) strategic UAV, (4) tactical UAV, and (5) miniature UAV [22]. and provide benecial classication systems. Furthermore, drones can
In Table 4, the presented drones classication by Zakora and be classied based on their engine types [15]. For example, UAVs often
Molodchik is shown. apply fuel engines and MAVs use electrical motors. The types of
Nowadays dierent types of drones evolved from the advancement propulsion systems which are used in drones are dierent based on
their models. The oered classication of drones in Fig. 2 shows
dierent models of drones as a function of their conguration. The
Table 4 indicated owchart in Fig. 2 also considers the bio models of micro and
The proposed drones categorization by Zakora and Molodchik based on their weight and nano air vehicles, which are dened as live controllable birds or insects
flight range [21].
and ying taxidermy birds.
Designation Weight range Flight range
2.1. Classication of UAVs
Micro and mini UAVs close range W5 kg 25 kmR40 km
Lightweight UAVs small range 5 kg < W50 kg 10 kmR70 km
Lightweight UAVs medium range 50 kg < W100 kg 70 kmR250 km The main aspects that distinguish UAVs from other types of small
Average UAVs 100 kg < W300 kg 150 kmR1000 km drones (such as MAVs and NAVs) include the operational purpose of
Medium heavy UAVs 300 kg < W500 kg 70 kmR300 km the vehicle, the materials used in its fabrication, and the complexity
Heavy medium range UAVs 500 kgW 70 kmR300 km
and cost of the control system [27]. UAVs vary widely in size and
Heavy UAVs large endurance 1500 kgW R1500 km
Unmanned combat aircraft 500 kg < W R1500 km conguration. For example, they may have a wing span as broad as a
Boeing 737 or smaller than a radio-controlled drone [2]. Dierent
2
Fig. 2. Dierent types of air drones.
mission requirements created various types of UAVs. For this reason, it UAV was the most ecient in hover ight and the tilt-wing UAV was
is often useful to categorize UAVs in terms of their mission capabilities the most ecient in cruise ight.
[15]. As indicated in Fig. 2, UAVs can be considered as HTOL The free wing tilt-body UAV, as shown in Fig. 3(e), is a new kind of
(horizontal take o landing), VTOL (vertical take-o landing), hybrid drones, distinct from xed wings and rotary wings. It is neither xed
model (tilt-wing, tilt-rotor, tilt-body, and ducted fan), helicopter, heli- wing nor rotary wing nor any combination of the two. In this type of
wing, and unconventional types. In Fig. 3, dierent types of unmanned drones, the wing is completely free to rotate in pitch axis and the
air vehicles are presented. In Table 5, the characteristics of dierent fuselage is a lifting body. Both the left/right wing pair and the central
types of UAVs shown in Fig. 3 are provided. lifting body are free to rotate about the spanwise shaft, free with regard
to the relative wind, and free with regard to each other [4146]. The
tilt-body is also an unconventional attachment of a boom type to a
2.1.1. HTOL and VTOL UAVs
fuselage such that it changes its incidence angle relatively to the
After many years of development in HTOL drones, there are four
fuselage in response to external commands. The merits of this type
congurations for these UAVs, which are specied by lift/mass balance
of drones are short take-o and landing (STOL), low speed loitering,
and by stability and control. They are tailplane-aft, tailplane forward,
and reduced sensitivity to center of gravity (CG) variation [41].
tail-aft on booms, and tailless or ying wing UAVs [37]. The mentioned
The ducted fan UAVs, are drones where their thrusters are
congurations may have the propulsion systems at the rear of the
enclosed within a duct. The thruster of these drones is called fan.
fuselage (see Fig. 3(a)) or at the front side of the UAV. Fixed wing
This fan is composed of two contra-rotating elements for minimizing
VTOL UAVs, often use a vertical propulsion system at the front of their
the rotation of the body by a resultant torque. Ducted fan UAVs cannot
fuselage, as shown in Fig. 3(b), and have cross wings. This type of
only take o and land vertically, but can also hover and be controlled by
drones can take o and land vertically and do not need runway for
two counter rotors and four control surfaces (vanes) [38,47]. Even
takeo.
though the transition into, and back from cruise ight is easy, ow
separation from the duct is a concern [38].
2.1.2. Tilt-rotor, tilt-wing, tilt-body, and ducted fan UAVs
For hovering ight mode, the VTOL drones are more ecient than
2.1.3. Helicopter and heli-wing UAVs
HTOL ones. They have limitations in cruise speed because of the
Nowadays, researchers design and fabricate dierent types of
stalling of the retreating blades, but usually for longer range missions,
unmanned helicopters for vertical takeo, landing, and hovering ight.
UAVs with higher cruise speed are required [38]. However, the ability
There are four types of helicopter UAVs, namely, single rotor, coaxial
of vertical take-o and landing is valuable. Due to these limitations, the
rotor, tandem rotor, and quad-rotor [38,48]. Heli-wing UAVs are other
idea to have a type of drone which combines the capability of both
types of drones which use a rotating wing as their blade. They can y as
VTOL and HTOL types was introduced [39]. Therefore, nowadays,
a helicopter vertically and also y as a xed wing UAV, as shown in
there are dierent types of hybrid drones including tilt-rotor, tilt-wing,
Fig. 3(h) [49,50].
tilt-body, and ducted fan UAV, as shown in Fig. 3(c), (d), (e), and 3(f),
respectively [40]. In tilt-rotor UAVs, at rst, rotors are vertical in
vertical ight, but for cruise ight they tilt forward through 90. In tilt- 2.1.4. Unconventional UAVs
wing UAVs, the engines are usually xed to wings, and tilt with wing. In UAVs that cannot be placed in previous dened categories are
this type of drone, the angle of the whole wing is changed from zero to considered as unconventional UAVs. Bio-inspired ying robots are
90in order to convert its ight modes from horizontal to vertical. Both usually placed in this group. For example, the FESTO AirJelly [51]
of these congurations ew successfully as drones, but the tilt-rotor which was inspired from jellysh, as shown in Fig. 3(i), is considered as
3
Fig. 3. Dierent types of UAVs, (a) HTOL [28], (b) VTOL [29], (c) tilt-rotor UAV [30], (d) tilt-wing UAV [31], (e) tilt-body UAV [32], (f) ducted fan UAV [33], (g) helicopter [34], (h)
heli-wing [35], and (i) unconventional UAV [36].
Table 5 that y dierently than conventional UAVs including the FESTO ying
The characteristics of different types of UAVs [2836]. penguin [51].
Name Manufacturer Weight Wing
span 2.2. Classication of UAVs
[a] RQ-4 Global Northrop Grumman 14,628 kg 39.9 m

A UAV or small UAV (SUAV) is an unmanned aerial vehicle small
Hawk
[b] SkyTote AeroVironment 110 kg 2.4 m enough to be man-portable. It is usually launched by hand and does not
[c] Bell Eagle Eye Bell Helicopter 1020 kg 7.37 m need a runway for take-o [53]. UAVs are larger than micro air
[d] UAV Quad Tilt ca GH Craft Ltd 23 kg 2m vehicles (MAVs), but can be carried by a soldier, and smaller than
Wing
UAVs that cannot be carried and launched by hand. UAVs vary widely
[e] Specs (Model Freewing Tilt-Body 215 kg 4.9 m
10060) technology (USA)
in their congurations. As shown in Fig. 4, UAVs can be categorized as
[f] V-bat MARTINUAV 31 kg 2.74 m HTOL, VTOL, hybrid model (tilt-wing, tilt-rotor, tilt-body, and ducted
[g] MQ-8 Fire Northrop Grumman 225 kg to 8.4 m fan), helicopter, ornithopter (apping wing), ornicopter, cyclocopter,
Scout 1430 kg and unconventional types.
[h] Boeing X-50 Boeing and DARPA 645 kg 2.71 m
HTOL, VTOL, tilt-rotor, tilt-wing, tilt-body, ducted fan, helicopter,
Dragony
[i] Air Jelly Festo and unconventional UAVs are similar to UAV models but often have
smaller size and weight compared to them, as shown in Fig. 4(a), (b),
(c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (k), respectively. In Table 6, the characteristics
unconventional UAV. This drone glides in air thanks to its central of some UAVs shown in Fig. 4 are provided.
electric drive unit and an intelligent adaptive mechanism. This drone is
able to perform this task because it consists of a helium-lled ballonet. 2.2.1. Ornithopter UAVs
AirJelly is the rst drone with peristaltic drive. This new drive concept, An ornithopter, is derived from the Greek words of ornithos
with propulsion based on the principle of recoil, moves the jellysh meaning bird and pteron which means a wing, that is ying by opening
gently through the air [51,52]. There are other unconventional UAVs and closing its wings. The idea of inventing bird wings to y refers back
4
Fig. 4. Dierent types of UAVs, (a) HTOL [54], (b) VTOL [55], (c) tilt-rotor [56], (d) tilt-wing [57], (e) tilt-body, (f) ducted fan UAV [58], (g) helicopter [59], (h) ornithopter [60], (i)
ornicopter [61], (j) cyclocopter [62], and (k) unconventional UAV [63].
Table 6 designed a apping wing, called Smart-Bird with a wing span equal
The characteristics of different types of UAVs [5460,62]. to 1.96 m can y like a seabird [67].
Name Manufacturer Weight Wing
span 2.2.2. Ornicopter UAVs
An ornicopter is a helicopter without a tail rotor, but with wings
[a] Q-11 Raven AeroVironment 1.91 kg 1.3 m that ap like bird wings, as shown in Fig. 4(i). The name, ornicopter is a
[b] HeliSpy II Micro Autonomous Systems 2 kg
LLC, USA
contraction of the words ornithopter and helicopter. In other words,
[c] ITU Tilt-Rotor Turkish UAV research ornicopter is a helicopter that aps its wings like a bird to get into the
[d] QUX-02 Japan Aerospace Exploration 3.4 kg 1.38 m air [68]. Aeronautical engineers at Delft University of Technology
Agency [68,69] thought that by apping a helicopter's main rotor blades like
[f] T-Hawk DARPA
the wings of a bird, they can dispense with the tail rotor and avoid the
[g] Sniper 032 Alpha Unmanned Systems 1.8 m
[h] SmartBird FESTO 450 g 1.96 m drawbacks of the NOTAR (NO TAil Rotor) system and increase the
[j] Cyclocopter Korean Aerospace Research freedom of movement by apping like a bird [70].
ADEX Institute
2.2.3. Cyclocopter UAVs

The cyclocopter or cyclogyro are UAVs that use cycloidal rotors
which consist of airfoils rotating around a horizontal axis to generate
to ancient Greek legends about Daedalus and Icarus. Roger Bacon, in lift and thrust forces, as shown in Fig. 4(j). They can take o, land,
his writings in 1260 CE, was among the rst to propose the idea of vertically, and hover like a helicopter. The cyclocopter wing resembles a
advanced ying. Leonardo da Vinci, around the year 1490, began to paddle wheel, with airfoils replacing the paddles [71]. Bin et al. [72]
study the ight of birds. He concluded that humans are too heavy to y from the National University of Singapore rst built a cyclogyro UAV
with wings attached to their arms. As a result, he thought about a that could hover and turn on the end of a tether [72].
machine which allowed he pilot to move big wings by means of hand
axels, foot pedals, and a system of pulleys [64,65]. The rst ornithopter 2.3. Classication of MAVs
was built around 1870 in France by Gustav Trouv who ew for about
70 m in an exhibition in France [64,66]. Recently, researchers designed MAV airplanes are micro planes usually with a length smaller than
and fabricated some apping wing drones. For example, FESTO 100 cm and a weight lower than 2 kg [73]. These drones are grouped
5
Fig. 5. Dierent types of MAVs, (a) xed wing [6], (b) apping wing [83], (c) xed/apping-wing [84], (d) rotary wing [85], (e) VTOL [86], (f) ducted fan [87], (g) tilt-rotor, (h)
helicopter [88], (i) unconventional, (j) ornicopter [89].
into nine categories: xed wing, apping wing, VTOL, rotary wing, tilt- Therefore, design and fabrication of these air drones should be
rotor, ducted fan, helicopter, ornicopter, and unconventional types. accurately carried out. Conceptual design of micro air vehicles usually
These drones can carry visual, acoustic, chemical, and biological diers from that of conventional UAVs design due to nontraditional
sensors [74], as shown in Fig. 5. Dierent types of micro air vehicles ight missions and decreased time required for design, production, and
are attracting various disciplines including aerospace, mechanical, evaluation of these drones [82].
electrical, and computer engineering [75]. The Defense Advanced As for VTOL, tilt-rotor, ducted fan, helicopter, ornicopter, and
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program limits these air drones unconventional MAVs, they are similar to UAV models but have
to a size less than 150 mm in length, width, or height and weighing smaller size and weight compared to them, as shown in Fig. 5(e), (f),
between 50 and 100 g [7,76], but after the advent of NAVs and PAVs, (g), (h), (i), and (j), respectively. The features of a few of the MAVs
the denition for MAV was changed. Therefore, in this review, the shown in Fig. 5 are indicated in Table 7.
dimensions of these drones are considered between 15 cm to 100 cm
and weight between 50 g to 2 kg. The smaller dimension of MAVs,
compared to UAVs, provides them with the broader performance range
[6].
The rst comprehensive research on MAV was performed in 1993 Table 7
The characteristics of different types of MAVs [6,8386].
at RAND Institute [77,78]. In the past decade, due to the quick
advances in microtechnology, MAVs have drawn a great deal of Name Manufacturer Weight Wing span
attention. As a result, in subsequent years, several research investiga-
tions were carried out on the micro planes [79,80]. In addition to their [a] Inverse Isfahan University of 430 g 43.2 cm
Zimmerman Technology
small sizes, these types of planes are capable to y at low speeds. MAVs
[b] Thunder I Isfahan University of 350 g 70 cm
are mainly ying at low altitudes for various applications, such as Technology
monitoring of dangerous locations, tracking of the specic targets, or [c] NPS apping-wing Naval Postgraduate School 14 g 23 cm
mapping. Flying of MAVs at low altitude places them within the [d] Apollo IdeaFly 1200 g 35 cm
atmospheric boundary layer, a particularly turbulent regime which [e] VTOL UAS Cranfield Aerospace Solutions
[f] GFS 7 JL Naudin 526 g 60 cm
makes them sensitive to these atmospheric disturbances [81].
6
2.3.1. Fixed wing MAVs likely involve a laminar ow but for larger drones that have higher
Fixed wing MAVs, as shown in Fig. 5(a), often consist of rigid wing, Reynolds numbers, mixed laminar and turbulent ows occur with
fuselage, and tails which use a motor and propeller as their propulsion possible transition. Furthermore, it can be seen that for Reynolds
system and can cover a wide range of possible operational environ- numbers in the range between 104 and 106, the drones exhibit a ow
ments including jungle, desert, urban, maritime, mountains, and arctic phenomenon which is called laminar separation bubble (LSB) [105].
environments [90,91]. Because of their small dimensions compared to These LSBs usually create additional drag as they displace the outer
UAVs and low required power, xed wing MAVs are quite covert, have inviscid ow. Drones which are operated at low Reynolds number,
low radar cross-section, and are very dicult to detect [26,90]. employ dierent ways to generate aerodynamic forces. For example,
Furthermore, advances in micro fabrication technology allow these xed wing drones with low aspect ratio exhibit three dimensional ows
drones to be produced in large quantities and with low cost. Fixed wing and laminar turbulent transition. Flapping wings generate unsteady
MAVs often apply a low-aspect ratio wing which is specied by a three ows which determine the lift and drag. Fixed and rotary wing drones
dimensional ow eld [92]. Fixed wing MAVs which y in environ- that operate at low Reynolds number, are prone to ow separation
ments, such as urban or forested areas, require short wings with low resulting in a drag increase and loss of eciency. Even without ow
aspect ratios since drones with longer wings are quite delicate and separation in these types of drones, the low Reynolds number results in
likely to hit obstacles [93]. lower lift-to-drag ratios from O(100) to O(1) [105,106].
Because of the MAVs applications, such as data gathering or A apping wing has the potential to benet from the advantages of
patrolling, having high endurance and range is very important. It other micro drone types [107]. The hovering ability of insects, coupled
should be mentioned that both of these features are proportional to lift with the ability for a quick transition to forward ight, provides an ideal
to drag ratio. Usually, xed wing MAVs with more lift/drag values drone for search and rescue and other applications [108,109]. Flapping
perform better than those with lower values. Mueller's group [74,94] wing MAVs can be designed and fabricated in three congurations,
demonstrated the importance of camber and wing shapes (planform) namely, monoplane, biplane, and tandem [110]. The monoplane
by performing wind tunnel investigations. They indicated that cam- apping wings apply a single pair of wings to generate lift same as
bered plates provide better aerodynamic performance [95]. Fixed-wing birds, as shown in Fig. 6(b). The tandem ones have two sets of wings,
MAVs have longer range and endurance and can y at higher altitude with one wing behind the other, apping independently same as
than apping and rotary wing MAVs which usually perform indoor dragonies as presented in Fig. 6(b). The biplane conguration, shown
missions with slower ight speed [96]. There are dierent types of in Fig. 6(c), has two superimposed pairs of wings, with one wing set
planforms which are: rectangular, tapered wings with swept leading over the other, and does not exist in nature [110112]. In Table 9,
edges, Zimmerman, inverse Zimmerman, and elliptical [91,97]. manufacturer, weight, and wing span of shown apping wing drones in
Fig. 6 are provided.
2.3.2. Flapping wing MAVs
Flapping wings are usually designed in three classes, namely, MAV, 2.3.3. Fixed/apping-wing MAVs
NAV, and PAV. The design of apping wing MAVs (FWMAVs) are Research in low Reynolds number unsteady aerodynamics and
inspired from birds, PAV apping wings are inspired from insects, and apping-wing propulsion has developed an unconventional apping-
NAV apping wings are inspired from organisms between very small wing propelled micro air vehicle. Fixed/apping-wing MAVs are hybrid
birds and huge insects, such as hummingbirds and dragonies [98,99]. designs which use xed wings for lift and apping wings for propulsion,
Flapping wing MAVs consist of the exible and apper wings which use as shown in Fig. 5(c). In this type of micro air vehicles, the drone
an actuation mechanism for their apping motion. Most of the apping usually consists of a low aspect ratio xed-wing with a trailing pair of
wings have exible and light wings as observed in birds and insects higher aspect ratio apping wings which ap in counterphase [84]. The
which indicate that the exibility and weight of wings are important for apping-wing part increases eciency, provides a mechanically and
their aerodynamic prociency and ight stability [100102]. The aerodynamically balanced platform, and quenches stall over the xed
research on natural and manmade apping wings showed that these wing by entraining ow [84]. This type of drone also can be seen in
types of air vehicles have more complexities compared to xed and dragony with tandem wings, where they apply two pairs of wings to
rotary wings mainly due to their complex aerodynamics [103]. increase the lift and thrust forces.
Therefore, birds, bats, and insects have been investigated by biologists
and drone researchers for years, and active study in the aerospace 2.3.4. Rotary wing MAVs
engineering community, motivated by interest in apping wings, has One of the important merits of MAVs when compared to other
been rapidly increasing [104]. drones, such as UAVs, is their small dimensions, which allow them to
Biologic inspiration indicates that ying with apping wings pre- y in conned spaces [113]. This is particularly true for rotary wing
sents unique maneuverability advantages. There are fundamental MAVs that can hover and have a high maneuverability [114]. As shown
challenges for xed and rotary wings to y reliably when their sizes in Fig. 5(d), having rotary blades or propeller-based systems they are
are reduced. When the wing area is reduced, a ow transition to low called rotary wing drones. Unlike the xed wing models, these drones
Reynolds number occurs which reduces the aerodynamic wing e- can y in every direction, horizontally, vertically, and also can hover in
ciency [7]. In Table 8, the range of Reynolds number for dierent a xed position [38]. These characteristics make them the perfect
classes of micro drones and the proposed wing congurations, such as drones for surveying hard-to-reach areas, such as pipelines, bridges, etc
xed wing, apping wing, and rotary wing for each range are shown [115,116]. Rotary wing drones, similar to helicopters generate lift from
[105]. the constant rotation of the rotor blades [38]. In this type of MAVs,
Reynolds number is one of the main parameters that determines several blades may be used. Thus, nowadays, researchers designed and
the lift and drag of the air vehicles. For very small drones, it will most fabricated dierent types of drones ranging from one to twelve motors.
Table 8
The range of Reynolds number for different types of micro drones [105].
Type PAV NAV MAV UAV UAV
Reynolds number 10 10
3 4
10 510
4 4
510 210
4 5
210 510
5 5
51052106
Conguration Flapping Fixed, rotary, flapping Fixed, rotary, flapping Fixed Fixed
7
Fig. 6. Dierent congurations of FWMAVs, (a) monoplane, (b) tandem, and (c) biplane [112].
Table 9 Table 10
The characteristics of flapping-wing drones with different configurations [110112]. The characteristics of rotary wing drones with different configurations
[121,122,124,125,127].
Name Manufacturer Weight Wingspan
[a] Slow Hawk 2 Kinkade R/C 397 g 106.7 cm
[b] BionicOpter FESTO 175 g 63 cm [a] Monocopter Massachusetts Institute of 175.5 g 40.64 cm
[c] Butterys spy drone Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) 12 g 20 cm Technology (MIT)
[b] OVIWUN Trek Aerospace Inc
[d] Aeryon Scout Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, 1700 g 80 cm
Those consisting of one motor and blade are known as mono-copters Ontario, Canada
[f] ZALA 421-21 ZALA AERO
which were inspired from whirling seeds that fall from some trees
[h] Distributed Flight Raffaello D'Andrea
[117,118], as shown in Fig. 7(a). Rotary wing MAVs with two, three, Array
four, ve, six, eight, ten, or twelve motors are called twin-copters, tri-
copters, quad-rotors or quad-copters, penta-copters, hexa-copters,
octo-copters, deca-copters, and dodeca-copters [119,120]. Among the 2.4. Classication of NAVs
rotary wing MAVs, the quad-copters and hexa-copters are the best
known drones [27]. Dierent types of rotary wings are presented in In addition to the micro air vehicles, DARPA started another
Fig. 7. In Table 10, the characteristics of some rotary wings presented program on nano air vehicles (NAVs) [129,130] dened as extremely
in Fig. 7 are given. small and lightweight drones with a maximum wing span length of
Fig. 7. Dierent types of rotary wing MAVs, (a) mono-copter [121], (b) twin-copter [122], (c) tri-copter [123], (d) quad-copter [124], (e) penta-copter, (f) hexa-copter [125], (g) octo-
copter [126], (h)deca-copter [127], (i) dodeca-copter [128].
8
Fig. 8. Dierent types of NAVs, (a) xed wing [133], (b) apping wing [134], (c) helicopter [135], (d) monocopter [136], (e) quadrotor [137], (f) hexacopter [138], and (g and h)
unconventional [139,140].
Table 11 ying microrobots, Dickinson et al. [144] tried to build an insect size
The characteristics of different types of NAVs [133139]. drone with a wing span of about 25 mm and weighing about 100 mg. In
order to investigate the buttery ight, Tanaka et al. [141] developed a
Name Manufacturer Weight Wing span
tiny and light buttery type apping wing whose weight, wing span,
[a] Black Widow AeroVironment 56.5 g 15.2 cm and frequency were equal to 0.4g, 140 mm, and 10 Hz, respectively.
[b] Nano Hummingbird AeroVironment 19 g 16 cm Wood et al. [142] started the RoboBee project to design and
[c] Black Hornet Nano Prox Dynamics 16 g 10 cm
manufacture apping wing PAVs. Dierent types of pico air vehicles
[d] Robotic samaras University of Maryland 7.5 cm
monocopter
are depicted in Fig. 9. In Table 12, the characteristics of the two
[e] CrazyFlie Nano Bitcraze 19 g 9 cm fabricated pico air vehicles in Fig. 9 are shown.
Quadcopter
[f] Mini X6 Micro Hexa- HobbyKing 52 g 13 cm
copter
2.6. Smart dust
[g] Entomopter Georgia Tech Research 50 g 15 cm
Institute Nowadays, the combination of nanotechnology, wireless sensor
networks, and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) has an
important role in a wide variety of applications, such as climate
15 cm [129] and a weight less than 50 g [131]. These types of drones control, building safety, and environmental monitoring [150]. One of
have a range less than 1 km and a maximum ight altitude around the interesting examples of a sensor network technology is the smart
100 m [130,132]. There are dierent congurations for NAVs, such as dust project which consists of hundreds to thousands of tiny micro-
xed wings, rotary wings, and apping wings which are depicted in electro-mechanical systems that can be used for light, temperature,
Fig. 8. The features of a few of the NAVs shown in Fig. 8 are indicated vibration, magnetism, or chemicals detection [151]. These robots are
in Table 11. usually distributed over some areas to perform their dened tasks. For
example, smart dust nodes can be moved by winds or can even remain
2.5. Classication of PAVs suspended in air for monitoring of weather conditions, air quality, and
many other phenomena [152].
In the past few years, researchers tried to design and fabricate The concepts for smart dust emerged from a workshop at RAND in
drones in insects sizes [141144]. To this end, a new class of drones 1992 and a series of DARPA studies in 1990 [153,154] and then later
was dened which is recognized as pico air vehicles (PAVs) [142]. expanded by Warneke et al. in 2001 [151]. Pister and his coauthors
Because of their small sizes and low weights, there are just a few types [151,155] tried to design a wireless communication system for sending
of PAVs. Quadrotors and apping wings are the designs used in the and receiving data from smart dust systems. Smart dust usually
PAV class. Between the mentioned types, recently, apping wing PAVs consists of many dust motes and each mote contains one or more
received more attention than rotary wings (quadrotor) because ap- sensors, a power supply, analog circuitry, bi-directional communica-
ping insects showed amazing ight performances, such as hovering, tion, and a programmable microprocessor [156]. Depending on the
abrupt acceleration, and rapid turning [141]. Many researchers worked power source, which can be based on solar cells or thin lm batteries,
on microrobotic drones. Shimoyama et al. [143] were the pioneers who the size of the dust motes can vary from 1 mm to 3 mm [155]. These
worked on microrobotic ight. They proposed a conceptual design for a dust motes can be applied for both commercial and military applica-
microrobot with an external skeleton and elastic joints like in insects. tions. As for military applications, dust motes usually contain acoustic,
While dierent approaches were pursued by various groups to design vibration, and magnetic eld sensors which can be delivered to the
9
Fig. 9. Dierent types of PAVs, (a, b, c, and d) apping wing [145148], and (e) quadrotor [149].
fabricate quad-copters (Orvillecopter and OstrichCopter), tricopter

Table 12
The characteristics of different types of PAVs [148,149]. (Ratcopter), etc. Even though the dead bodies of cats and rats are
not relevant examples of ight ecient structures, applying the same
Name Manufacturer Weight Wing span concept for the taxidermied birds can be considered as new platforms
for apping wings. Scientists at Duke University with cooperation of
[d] RoboBees Harvard University 0.5g 3 cm
[e] Mesicopter Stanford University 1.5g 1.5 cm engineering students and a taxidermist applied a taxidermied dead bird
animated by o-the-shelf robotics to study the behavior of the swamp
sparrow species. They programmed simple Picaxe computer chips and
target area by unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) or micro air vehicles built a tiny linear motor to t inside the cavity of the bird named
(MAVs). Recently, there is an eort to incorporate chemical and Robosparrow [166]. Even though this taxidermy bird was used for
biological sensors to dust motes [155]. In Fig. 10, schematic views of biology studies, it gives researchers new ideas to use taxidermy birds as
smart dust are shown. drones. Dierent types of taxidermy bio-drones are presented in
Fig. 11.
2.7. Bio-drones
2.7.2. Live bio-drones
Because of the importance of reconnaissance and patrolling in civil Development of low power radio systems and miniaturization of
and military applications, applying new instruments for these tasks has digital circuits coupled with neurophysiology studies and dynamics of
received much attention. Sometimes, huge and enormous drones, such birds and insect ight can provide the capability to control the birds
as Global Hawk are designed and developed to perform these missions. and insects ights. According to advances in microfabrication technol-
As mentioned before, however, micro drones with smaller dimensions ogy and considerable progress in understanding of insect ight,
and weights could attract the attention of military and civil centers. researchers started to build insect size robots. However, because of
There are dierent techniques for the design and fabrication of small the limitations in current technology and knowledge of insect ight,
drones. One of these techniques is the inspiration from birds and fabrication of tiny yers which can y well in real environments is a
insects. There are other techniques which propose the use of live or dicult task. Nowadays, the smallest micro drone is the microrobotic-
dead birds and insects for reconnaissance and patrolling or other y which was built at Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory with 60 mg
missions instead of design and fabrication of articial drones total weight [167]. Even though these tiny drones are rapidly evolving,
[163,164]. Therefore, some live insects or birds that can be controlled they are currently struggling with diculties in replicating the mechan-
by using some electrical chips on them can be utilized. Next, the ical eciencies and power densities of existing power sources.
dierent types of bio-drones will be discussed. In this review, the bio- Recently, some researchers [168] have attempted to solve the
drones are divided into two categories, namely, taxidermy and live mentioned problems by merging synthetic control and communication
drones. systems into living insects with the aim to control free ight. Also,
scientists from the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center at
2.7.1. Taxidermy bio-drones Shandong University of Science and Technology in China could attach
One of the innovative ideas that was presented in the recent years is an electronic chip to the brain of a pigeon which allowed them to
using the dead bodies of animals or birds as ying platforms for drones. remotely control the pigeon movements. They used hair-thin electrodes
In other words, the taxidermy bodies of animals and birds were applied which were implanted in the brain of the pigeon in locations respon-
as structural part of drones and are combined with other parts, such as sible for movement [164]. Furthermore, the birds can be equipped with
electrical batteries and sensors. Jansen [165] was the pioneer of using some sensors, such as GPS, modems, and camera and released in the
taxidermy bodies of animals as ying platforms. He applied the dead target area to carry out the mission without having control on their
bodies of dierent animals including cat, rat, ostrich, etc, in order to motions. Dierent types of live bio-drones are presented in Fig. 12.
10
Fig. 10. (a) Structure of smart dust motes [157], (b, c, d, and e) smart dust motes [158161], and (f and g) smart dust application [162].
2.8. Hybrid drones quadcopter was created by a company named B that in response to the
ip of a switch, can transform the drone from a dirt-barreling tank into
Nowadays, some eorts are made to design and fabricate drones a sky-ying quadcopter (Fig. 13(a)) [173,174]. DALER robot is a drone
with dierent abilities that can be applied in various environments. that ies and walks [175] which consists of a ying wing with adaptive
Dierent drones were invented having the ability to walk and move on morphology that enables the robot to perform both the long distance
the ground and water or swim and dive under water. A hybrid tank- ight and walks in target environments for local explorations. This
Fig. 11. Taxidermy bio-drones (a) Orvillecopter, (b) Ratcopter, (c) OstrichCopter, and (d) Robosparrow [165,166].
11
Fig. 12. Live bio-drones (a) controlled beetle [169], (b) schematic of controlled insect [170], (c and d) controlled pigeon [171,172].
Fig. 13. Air-ground hybrid drones: (a) tank quadcopter [174], (b) DALER robot [175], and (c) MALV [5].
drone was inspired from the vampire bat Desmodusrotundus which 3. Applications of drones
can perform aerial and terrestrial locomotion with limited trade-os
(Fig. 13(b)) [175,176]. Furthermore, the micro air-land vehicle The applications of drones cover a wide range of civil and military
(MALV) which was designed by Bachmann et al. [5] is another drone applications. Drones can perform both outdoor and indoor missions in
which can y and walk over rough terrain using passively compliant very challenging environments [182]. Drones can be equipped with
wheel-leg running gear(Fig. 13(c)). Parrot Hydrofoil is a drone that is various sensors and cameras for doing intelligence, surveillance, and
considered as a remarkable hybrid robot in both air and water reconnaissance missions. The applications of drones can be categorized
(Fig. 14(a)) [177,178]. in dierent ways. It can be based on the type of missions (military/
Researchers from Rutgers University developed a ying and diving civil), type of the ight zones (outdoor/indoor), and type of the
drone to aid search-and-rescue operations, defuse underwater mine environments (underwater/on the water/ground/air/space). In
threats, and monitor oil spills, (Fig. 14(b)) [179]. In addition, there is Fig. 15, a owchart of dierent types of drones applications is shown
another type of hybrid drone named HexH20, which has the capability [183,184].
to y and dive underwater (Fig. 14(c)) [180]. Researchers from the As shown in Fig. 15, drones have a variety of applications in our
Aerial Robotics Laboratory of Imperial College London designed a daily life. Drones can have more than two-hundred applications in
multimodal apping wing MAV which was inspired from an amphi- future according to their types [183,184]. For example, these drones
bious bird that can y, dive into the water, and retake ight. This can be used for search and rescue missions, environmental protection,
Aquatic Micro Air Vehicle (AquaMAV) is supposed to monitor the mailing and delivery, performing missions in oceans or other planets,
water quality, and do search and rescue operations and underwater and other miscellaneous applications [185]. These drones can provide
explorations (Fig. 14(d)) [181]. In Figs. 13 and 14, the air-ground and a rapid overview around the target area without any danger. Drones
air-water hybrid drones are presented. In Table 13, characteristics of equipped with infrared cameras can give images even in the darkness
dierent types of hybrid drones shown in Figs. 13 and 14 are provided. [186]. For instance, because of their reduced dimensions, micro drones
12
Fig. 14. Air-water hybrid drones: (a) Parrot Hydrofoil [178], (b) Rutgers University drone [179], (c) HexH20 [180], and (d) AquaMAV [181].
can be used for reconnaissance inside buildings. As reported in

Table 13 [130,187], small drones are currently the only way to look inside
The characteristics of different types of hybrid drones [5,174,175,178181]. buildings in the battleeld. They can carry specic sensors to locate
biological, nuclear, chemical, or other threats [188]. Next, some of the
Name Manufacturer weight Wing span
civil applications of the drones are discussed.
[13-a] B-Unstoppable Bgobeyond 84 g 23.5 cm
[13-b] DALER Laboratory of Intelligent 393 g 72 cm 3.1. Search and rescue missions
Systems (EPFL) and (NCCR)
[13-c] MALV Supported by U.S. Department 118 g 30.5 cm
of Defense
One of the important applications of drones is using them in search
[14-a] Parrot Parrot 247 g 34 cm and rescue missions [189]. In search and rescue operations, every
Hydrofoil second is vital. In order to function as eciently as possible, it is
[14-b] Rutgers Supported by the Office of 2000 g 90 cm important to be able to obtain a rapid overview of the situation. While
University drone Naval Research
manned airplanes and helicopters need time to be ready for doing the
[14-c] HexH20 QUADH20 4700 g 74 cm
mission, drones can be put into action immediately without any loss of
time [190]. Because of the important role of drones in search and
rescue missions, they attracted the attention of many researchers. To
Fig. 15. Classication of drones applications.
13
Fig. 16. Application of drones in search and rescue missions [191194].
Fig. 17. Application of drones in environmental protection.
this end, several drones were designed and fabricated for performing change, and monitoring the biodiversity of dierent ecosystems from
this type of missions [191194]. In Fig. 16, dierent concepts of search rainforests to the oceans [195]. These drones can be used for recogni-
and rescue drones are depicted. tion and investigation of natural disasters including forest res,
avalanches on mountains, etc [196,197]. In Fig. 17, some types of
drones which are used for environmental protection are shown.
3.2. Environmental protection
Although drones are considered as a vital part of military missions, 3.3. Mailing and delivery
they are also being increasingly used for performing environmental
actions, such as managing national parks and agricultural lands, Recently, drone delivery service became an interesting topic for
tracking wildlife in dierent areas, observing the eects of climate dierent companies around the world. For example, Amazon and
14
Fig. 18. Application of drones in mailing and delivery [198200].
Google in the U.S [198,199], DHL post service in Germany [200], and missions and planetary explorations [201204]. In Fig. 19, some
many other companies are using drones to deliver packages to examples of space drones are shown. It should be noted that design
customers. For delivery, the designed drones land and take o and fabrication of space drones should be done based on that
vertically and have the customer address to carry the cargos. In environment. For example, because of the amount of gravity on
Fig. 18, some delivery drones are presented. Mars, the weights of drones dier from their weights on Earth.
Indeed, the weights reduce by 61.5% [205].
3.4. Space drones

3.5. Marine drones
One of the environments in which drones can be used, is space and
the exploration of other planets, such as Mars. In planetary explora- As shown in Fig. 14, drones can be applied in the marine
tions, because of the advantages of drones compared to other robots, environments to study marine organisms, identify the location of oil
there is a tendency to design and fabricate some drones that can y and spills, and for other military or civil applications [206208]. Because of
perform missions in space environments. For example, NASA is the lack of a runway in marine vehicles, such as submarine and boats,
building drones to explore other planets [201,202]. Dierent types of most of the drones are launched vertically in these environments.
drones were designed and fabricated in order to carry-out space Launching drones from underwater was introduced at rst by U.S
Fig. 19. Application of drones in space [201204].
15
Fig. 20. Drones in marine environments, (a) TacMAV [209], (b) Scan Eagle [210,211], (c) Volans [212,213], and (d) Cormorant [214,215].
Table 14 technology, there are some gaps in their design.

The characteristics of marine drones [209215]. One of the important tasks in the design process of all types of
drones is sizing which results in the optimum values of their dimen-
sions and weights [6,91]. The sizing process of drones is usually
[a] TacMAV Applied Research Associates Inc. 363 g 53 cm composed of ve steps: (1) dening the mission, (2) setting the ight
[b] Scan Eagle Boeing 27 kg 3.7 m mode based on the type, (3) determining the wing shape (planform)
[c] Volans GABLER and aspect ratio, (4) constraint analysis, and (5) weight estimation
[d] Cormorant Lockheed Martin 13 m
[6,7,91]. In the denition of the mission, the analysis of the route is
conducted resulting in the determination of the ight time, cruise
researchers in 2005 [209]. Nowadays, there are dierent types of speed, and turning speed. After that, the determination of the ight
drones including Scan Eagle [210,211], Volans [212,213], Cormorant modes, shape of the wing and its aspect ratio are determined based on
[214,215], etc, which are launched from submarines. The successful the type of mission. Then, to determine the appropriate wing loading
launch of these drones from submarines oered a pathway to perform and thrust loading of drone, a constraint analysis is carried out in
critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. In which the kinematic and dynamic equations of the ight are simulated.
Fig. 20, dierent types of launched drones from underwater and Along with the afore mentioned steps, dierent methods for weight
submarines are shown. The features of marine drones shown in estimation can be employed. The result of this process is the determi-
Fig. 20 are indicated in Table 14. nation of the geometry and dimensions of the drones and also the
calculation of some aerodynamic parameters for each type [91].
The sizing process should be performed as accurately as possible
3.6. Drones miscellaneous applications
[228]. In Fig. 22, a schematic view of the costs for the design and
fabrication of dierent types of drones is shown [229,230].
Despite of the conventional applications of drones, they can be used
The trend shown in Fig. 22 is caused by the practical and
in some non-ordinary missions. As an example, Tokyo's Metropolitan
experimental issues that arise when scaling a drone, such as increased
Police Department unveiled its new anti-drones which are used to take
or reduced power density of propulsion systems, electronic boards,
down naughty or oensive drones from the sky. In this type of
fabrication methods, etc. Small drones (UAV, MAV, NAV, and PAV),
application, if a suspicious drone is detected, at rst the operator is
are not merely scaled down versions of larger airplanes [38]. Since all
warned. In case the operator is not found or the ight continues despite
the characteristics of larger airplanes have to be retained in a small
the warning, an interceptor drone is scrambled to catch the suspicious
volume, the challenges and complexity in their design and fabrication
drone, as shown in Fig. 21(a) [216]. Moreover, drones can be used as a
increase signicantly. In recent years, although scientists tried to
runway for another drone (Fig. 21(b)) [217], can be applied to guide
design insect size drones, the miniaturization progress of these drones
(or scare) birds away from airport runways (Fig. 21(c)) [218], can be
has slowed down due to the physical and technological challenges
used to clean windows, gutters, and solar panels (Fig. 21(d, e, and f))
posed by the decreased size [130,231]. The important problem in these
[219], and for other applications, such as hobbies, as shown in
types of drones is related to the low Reynolds number which results
Fig. 21(g and h) [220].
from their low speed and small sizes [90,232]. Generally, ight in this
regime of ow is more dicult. Because of this, researchers started to
4. Design methods and challenges
study the ight of insects [233235]. Next, some challenges for
designing some types of micro drones are discussed.
The design of drones regardless of their ight class, type, size, and
dened mission involves three steps, namely, conceptual design,
preliminary design, and detailed design [224227]. Each step requires 4.1. Challenges in xed wing micro drone design
increasingly sophisticated sizing, aerodynamic, aeroelastic, structural,
propulsion, stability, control, electronic, and fabrication analysis Among the dierent types of micro drones, xed wings are the most
[6,7,91]. It should be noted that, despite the progress in drone developed and the easiest ones to design and fabricate. This is due to
16
Fig. 21. Drones miscellaneous applications, (a) anti-drones [216], (b) runway drone [217], (c) drones which scare birds away from airport runways [218], (d) windows cleaning drones
[219], (e) gutters cleaning drones [221], (f) solar panels cleaning drones [222], and (g and h) hobby drones [220,223].
process [242244]. Because of using trial and error methods in

designing xed wing drones, their design cannot be considered
optimized due to uncertainties in weight estimation, sizing, selection
of the best wing shape and aspect ratio for maximum endurance.
4.2. Challenges in apping wing design
To design bio-inspired apping wing drones, some methods are

based on empirical formulae [245256]. These formulae were estab-
lished based on allometrical data extracted from biological avian ight
[7]. The pioneers of these researches include Pennycuick [246,247],
Rayner [248,249], Tucker [250,251], Lighthill [252,253], and
Fig. 22. A schematic view of the costs for design and fabrication of dierent types of
Spedding [254]. Their empirical formulae related the design para-
drones.
meters of apping wings, such as wing area, weight, and wing loading
to the apping frequency, ight speed, and required power for ight. In
the fact that there are dierent methods for larger xed wing airplanes
addition to that, these formulae related the geometry of the wing
which can be applied with some modications in aerodynamic and
including the area and wing span to the weight of the FWMAV. These
geometric characteristics [236]. A wide variety of xed wing drones was
empirical formulae were used for sizing of FWMAVs by some research-
developed by various organizations and researchers across the world
ers, such as Beng [255] and Beasley [256]. In his design, Beasley [256]
[7,91,237,238]. These drones have dierent ight speed, altitude, and
utilized the biological mimicry for sizing the apping wing. Indeed, by
endurance depending on their dened mission [91]. These kinds of
using the geometric scaling factors for Passeriformes [257], the xed
drones in comparison with other types, such as rotary wings or apping
span, weight, apping frequency, wing area, and aspect ratio of the
wings require relatively higher speeds for ight. For example, the cruise
MAV were determined from the logarithmic relationships [256]. Other
speed of xed wing MAVs typically ranges from 6 to 20 m/s [7,130]. It
methods based on statistical and experimental sizing and testing were
should be mentioned that this type of drones cannot hover or y slowly
applied. As an example, Gerard and Ward [110] designed their apping
and ying in indoor spaces is very challenging for them. These drones
wing MAV based on existing FWMAVs, such as Luna and DelFly.
can be used in various types of missions where the high speed is
There are other methods which were utilized for sizing of NAV and
required, such as ying over water and forests.
PAV apping wings. For instance, Whitney and Wood [103] proposed a
Fixed wing drones usually require a thrust loading less than one
conceptual design process for insect-sized apping wings with a
and less power to y than a helicopter with the same weight in hovering
primary focus on hovering ight. Many assumptions were considered
mode [239,240]. In larger drones, the lift over drag ratio is more than
in their method including linear and lumped representations to model
30 [239]. This value is rapidly decreased for smaller drones and
the dynamics of the vehicle and the blade-element method to model the
consequently Reynolds number decreases [241]. Due to the decrease
aerodynamic forces. In their method, after developing a dynamic model
in the velocity, and dimensions, the operating Reynolds number is
for the apping wings, they used energy methods to determine the
reduced and consequently the eciency of the drone is also decreased
fractions of the actuation mechanism and mass of the battery.
[99]. Therefore, the advantage of large xed wing drones becomes less
Combining this sizing methodology with derived limits on wing
pronounced when the lift over drag ratio is reduced to less than 10
structural-inertial eciency, the range of feasible designs and the
[130]. Several xed wing drones were designed and fabricated, but
limits of performance of the apping wing PAVs were specied.
none of them are in the PAV or NAV classes with dimensions less than
Most of the mentioned sizing methods were based on allometric
10 cm. Generally, to design xed wing drones, researchers used trial
formulae extracted from natural birds and insects which were applied
and error methods which increase the cost and time of the design
directly for sizing of articial apping wings without taking into
17
account the impacts of other parameters including the used materials also modeled within the framework of unsteady NavierStokes equa-
for the wing membranes. Using the empirical formulae of natural birds tions [99]. In this method, nonlinear physics with multiple variables,
and insects, non-optimized micro drones are designed. Therefore, these such as velocity and pressure, and time-varying geometries are among
empirical formulae should be revisited and probably some correction the aspects of interest [99]. This theory is applied and developed by
factors are needed [7]. many researchers. Liu and Kawachi [276] and Liu et al. [277]
After sizing and during design process of apping-wing drones, conducted unsteady NavierStokes simulations of the ow around a
dierent aerodynamic and structural analyses can be performed on wing of a hawkmoth, to study the unsteady aerodynamics during the
them [258]. Usually, in natural and manmade apping wings, their hovering ight. They modeled a realistic geometric wing and apping
aerodynamic, structural and ight dynamics intersect with some of the kinematics of the considered insect and observed the features of the
richest problems, such as unsteady three dimensional separation, Leading Edge Vortex (LEV) and the spiral axial ow during transla-
transition in boundary layers and shear layers, unsteady ight envir- tional motions [99]. Their results are consistent with those observed by
onment, aeroelasticity and anisotropic wing structure, and nonlinear Ellington et al. [278]. Also, using 3D NavierStokes computations,
and adaptive control [259]. There are dierent theories which are used Viieru et al. [279] and Shyy and Liu [280] investigated the Reynolds
to model the aerodynamic forces of the natural and manmade apping number eect on the LEV for hovering ight.
wings, such as quasi-steady, strip theory, unsteady, and NavierStokes Beside the discussed methods, dierent experimental approaches
methods. It should be mentioned that the type of analysis is dependent can be carried-out to study the aerodynamic of apping wings. As an
on the type of apping wing, its conguration, and ight modes. For example, for ow eld investigations, particle image velocimetry (PIV)
instance, the complexity of aerodynamic analysis is increasing for is usually applied by researchers [259]. The combination of dierent
apping wings in tandem wing congurations. This wing conguration aerodynamic theories and applying the experimental study in parallel
has been used by nature's yers, such as dragonies. Studying the can be proposed as the best way to have more realistic results.
unsteady ow interactions between two wings is more complex than
the case of a single wing; however, two pairs of wings can provide 4.3. Challenges in rotary wing design
increased lift and thrust and gust resistance [260].
Many researchers, such as Azuma [261], Lighthill [262], Rotary wing drones are designed based on the number and
Maxworthy [263], Norberg [257], Pennycuick [264], Spedding [265], positions of their motors. These drones can y with high speeds and
and Weis-Fogh [266] opted to use a quasi-steady aerodynamic model perform the vertical take-o, landing, and hovering ight [38,281].
[99]. This model is centered on a slow wingtip speed relative to the Micro rotary wing drones can y in indoor spaces and are perfect for
overall velocity of the body [267]. This theory is constructed based on patrolling [282,283]. Generally, the endurance of these types of drones
the instantaneous velocity, wing geometry, and angle of attack when is restricted due to the required higher power for the hovering ight
the steady-state aerodynamic model is used. Using a quasi-steady mode [130]. There are many challenges in designing these drones when
model greatly simplies the aerodynamic model because it allows their size and weight are decreased. For instance, when they have low
neglecting the wing motion and ow history, or in other words, the thrust loading and the eciency of rotors is low [284]. Despite these
wake eects caused by unsteady motion [99]. Although this approach disadvantages, rotary wing drones can y with high and low speeds and
can greatly reduce the complexity of the modeling, it falls short in also can perform hovering ight based on the dened mission [285].
accounting for the unsteady eects seen in apping motion [267]. Based on the number and position of the motors, there are dierent
Many animals and systems exhibit ight that can be accurately congurations for rotary wing drones [38,286]. Each one of these
modeled by the quasi-steady approximation but others, like many congurations is suitable for specic types of missions. To this end, the
insects, have very high apping frequencies that generate unsteady selection of each conguration depends upon the mission require-
contributions to the aerodynamics of the ight [268]. Based on the ments. For example, if the drone is supposed to perform a maneuver-
theoretical analyses of Ellington [269] and the experimental measure- able mission, the quadrotor or hexacopter drones should be consid-
ments of some tethered insects [270,271], it has been indicated that the ered. Generally, for rotary wing drones, weight is an important
quasi-steady model is insucient to predict the required lift to support criterion. Nowadays, there exist several prototypes of these types of
insect body weight [99]. drones in dierent dimensions. Although the rotary wings have simple
Another common theory was used to model the apping motion of control systems and they are very maneuverable, their main disadvan-
natural and manmade apping wings, is strip theory [107,272]. This tage is the power consumption [287,288].
theory is based on dividing the wing into multiple sections and creating
an integral function to account for the eects of each strip into an 4.4. Challenges in tilt-wing and tilt-rotor design
accurate aerodynamic model. This strip theory can be used to
determine the average lift and thrust through the cycle of the apping Since the beginning of the 21st century, many researchers and
motion of the system [273]. Strip theory was utilized by many companies tried to invent eective ying drones with improved
researchers in order to study the performance of apping wings performance and capabilities [289]. In the past few years, tilt-rotor
[107,255,268,273275]. Benedict et al. [275] wrote a code in C++ and tilt-wing drones were developed because of their excellent perfor-
for the strip theory. He considered the same assumptions which were mance [290]. These drones have the capabilities to carry out the
implemented by DeLaurier [107]. His code was written to calculate the vertical ight capabilities of rotary-wings with the high speed long
aerodynamic parameters using the unsteady strip model. Zakaria et al. duration ight of xed wing drones [291]. In other words, the tilt-rotor
[273] applied the strip theory to computationally study the unsteady and tilt-wing drones congurations have the potential to alter the air
aerodynamics of the commercial apping wing (SlowHawk 2). Beng transportation by providing a combination of vertical take-o and
[255] wrote a Matlab code for the strip theory and applied it for landing capabilities with ecient high-speed cruise ight [292,293].
Pterosaur replica to evaluate his code with the obtained result by These types of drones have a bright future in military and civilian
DeLaurier [107] and Kamakoti et al. [274]. Hassanalian et al. [272] applications [294]. Although, xed wing drones suer from the
developed the strip theory in Scilab to study the wing shape and requirement of runways or additional launch and recovery systems
dynamic twist design of bio-inspired nano air vehicles for forward for take-o and landing, tilt-rotor and tilt-wing drones could solve
ight. In this study, the wing shapes of seven insects were chosen to be these issues [295]. These drones can perform a vertical take-o and
analyzed for their aerodynamic performance and ability to perform landing (VTOL), hovering, and high cruising speed ight by changing
forward ight missions [272]. the angle of the rotor or wing by a tilt actuation mechanism [296].
Aerodynamics of birds and insects during the apping ight can be Among dierent types of these drones, tilt-rotors have attracted many
18
designers because of their energy eciency, stability, and controll- 5. Manufacturing methods for micro drones and challenges
ability in various missions [297,298].
The design procedure of tilt-rotor drones is a combination of xed According to the type and class of the drones, there are dierent
and rotary wing drones which has their same challenges [38]. One of methods and materials which are used to manufacture them. Generally,
the challenging issues in tilt-rotor drone design is their transition the fabrication process is one of the important steps in the creation of
mode. This is due to the fact that the conversion of ight modes drones. In fact, every step in the manufacturing process aects the nal
between vertical and horizontal congurations necessitates a dierent performance of the drone. Thus, in the manufacturing stage of drones,
control strategy [299]. However, because of the complexity in transi- it is important to determine the manufacturing method and the used
tion mode, further studies of these drones are needed [293,300]. In material to fabricate them. Usually, according to the type and class of
these drones, degradation of stability is usually found at high-speed in the drones, each part of them can be fabricated with dierent methods
forward ight mode and the involved equations of motion are highly and materials, and then they can be assembled [6,7]. It should be
coupled and nonlinear [292]. Researchers made several studies on the mentioned that the selection of the fabrication method is related to the
dynamic and control models of these types of drones [301304]. used materials and the selection of the materials is dependent on the
However, most of them applied linearization techniques which make type of structural parts of the drones and the required criteria for their
their results inaccurate due to the neglect of the present nonlinearities weight, strength, stiness, etc. Next, dierent methods and materials
[290]. Most of the researches on tilt-rotor and tilt-wing drones have which are applied in manufacturing of drones are reviewed.
been done on dual tilt-wings, such as HARVee [305] and dual tilt-
rotors including Bell Eagle Eye, BIROTAN and Smart UAV of KARI 5.1. Manufacturing of xed wing drones
[292]. A cyclicrotor control is required in dual tilt-rotor drones which
increases the mechanical complexity [291]. Fixed wing UAV, UAV, and MAV drones, usually consist of wing,
Dierent control methods were oered to perform autonomous fuselage, booms, vertical and horizontal tails. Each part of the drone is
transition maneuvers for tilt- and wing-rotor drones [287290]. fabricated with dierent materials and methods. The applied materials
etinsoy et al. [291] invented a new drone called SUAVI which can in xed wing drones can be metallic materials, such as aluminum which
perform vertical take-o and landing like a helicopter and also is are used in huge UAVs, composite materials including kevlar, ber-
capable to y like an airplane. In their work, their analysis was missing glass, ber carbon and other materials including wood, Styrofoam, and
the transition maneuver which is the most interesting phenomenon in plastics (PVC) which are applied in the fabrication of xed wing MAVs
this kind of drones [306]. Naldi and Marconi [307] oered an optimal and UAVs [317]. Nowadays, composite materials are considered as
transition maneuver for the tail-sitter V/STOL. Some numerical popular materials in the manufacturing process of drones. Unlike
trajectories at simulations levels which show the transition maneuver metallic materials, the actual material properties of composites are
were applied. In most of the tilt-rotor drones, as performed in several generally not available because their properties are dependent on the
studies [291,308310], the control problem of the transition maneuver manufacturing process [318]. The current materials technology enables
was analytically considered and the hovering and cruise ights were the access to dierent types of composite materials.
investigated separately. Therefore, for the hovering and cruise ight Recently, with the advances in the composite manufacturing
modes, the controllers are extracted individually, using a switching technology, very complex shaped parts can be easily built. Thus, most
condition but without developing any analysis between the mentioned of the UAVs are built from composite materials. Moreover, the
ying modes. maintenance and repair processes of UAVs can be performed quickly
and easily [318]. Also, composite materials are the most popular
4.5. Proposed solutions for design challenges technology employed in UAVs and MAVs structures. Indeed, this
type of material provides high accuracy and good quality of surface in
To overcome the mentioned challenges for dierent types of micro these types of drones. Generally, the important advantage of composite
drones, developers and designers of drones should consider various material is the possibility of manufacturing airframes with very
parameters in the design process which can result in developing complicated shapes. The disadvantage of this material is the high cost
optimized drones. As discussed in the previous sections, each type of of the mould preparation [319].
drones and their design methods have advantages and disadvantages. The composite material manufacturing process consists of dierent
Therefore, by using theoretical, statistical, revised allometrical, and steps, such as 3D CAD shape design, CNC mould milling, wet lay-up,
bio-inspiration methods, a comprehensive methodology can be pro- prepreg laminating, high temperature curing, and o mould fettling/
posed which nds solutions for the drawbacks of previous methods. dressing [319]. There are various fabrication methods for preparing a
Various types of drones can be introduced by taking inspiration from composite material from continuous ber and non-metallic matrix
nature [311]. In current design theories of drones, the ability to material. Some of them are matched die molding, vacuum bagging,
transform and change the conguration can be considered as a new lament winding, and resin transfer molding. One of the main features
eld of research. Even though some methodologies are currently in of the vacuum bagging method compared to curing in autoclave is that
development that can allow for designing of transformers drones, they it is less expensive to set up [318]. In Table 15, a comparison between
should be more considered for the design of lightweight, quickly some conventional used materials in xed wing drones including
deployable, easily operable, and low storage volume wings for un- aluminum sheet, wood, Styrofoam, plastics (PVC), and carbon ber is
manned and micro aerial vehicles [312]. It should be noted that presented.
inspiration from nature can introduce some new models to design. As shown in Table 15, dierent factors are listed to compare
For example, inspiration from nature including armadillo, wheel between the dierent used materials including stress factors, manu-
spider, locust, ladybird or even Venus y trap can give researchers an facturability, and cost [321]. It should be noted that each of the
idea to design and fabricate some drones with cumulative wings, as mentioned materials are used for a specic part of the drone. For
shown in Fig. 23. example, balsa wood is usually used to fabricate the fuselage of micro
In summary, in the design process of drones, two parts should be drones with low weight. As presented in Table 15, the only drawback of
considered, the rst one is drones conguration and the second one is balsa wood is that its strength is low compared to metal materials, such
their design methodology. Recently, there are some eorts to design as aluminum or steel. However, in terms of manufacturability, balsa
drones with unconventional congurations which almost are inspired wood is one of the best materials for micro drones among others. Balsa
from nature, such as birds, insects, marine organisms, etc [51]. In Fig. 24, wood has light weight compared to aluminum, carbon rod, stainless
some drones which have the capability to fold their wings are shown. steel, and iron. The cost for manufacturing of balsa is low as it is soft
19
Fig. 23. Views of (a) armadillo, (b) wheel spider, (c) locust, (d) ladybird, and (e) Venus y trap.
and can be crafted manually without any machine [321,322]. Usually, to fabricate the skin of UAV and MAV classes. In comparison with
balsa wood is selected to fabricate the fuselage and tails of drones in carbon ber reinforced polymers, berglass is considered as a light-
UAV and MAV classes with low weight [6,7]. weight, extremely strong, and robust material that can be utilized in
The wings of xed wing micro drones are usually fabricated from drones fabrication. Although the strength properties of berglass are
foam or composite materials. Recently, there are dierent types of somewhat lower than carbon ber and it is less sti, their material is
foam that have the lowest density in comparison with other materials typically less brittle, and its raw materials are much less expensive
[317]. Because of the lowest strength of foam; it is usually used in the [324].
fabrication of UAVs and MAVs. Hotwire cut is the best and easiest
way for manufacturing the wings [6,91,323]. Other materials which can
be used in drones structures fabrication are composite materials, such 5.2. Manufacturing of apping wing drones
as carbon ber, ber glass, etc. Carbon ber reinforced polymer has
higher strength than ber glass and they are cheaper than spectra ber. The manufacturing process of apping wings and the applied
However, carbon ber can be reinforced by resin matrix under heated materials in their structures are dierent from other types. The
condition to achieve their maximum hardness and strength. This fabrication techniques are dependent on the class of the apping
increases the complexity of the manufacturing method [321]. wings. For instance, the materials and methods which are used for
Therefore, carbon ber reinforced polymer is not a suitable material apping wing PAVs are dierent from apping wing MAVs [325].
Flapping wing drones usually consist of wing, fuselage, tails, and
Fig. 24. Views of dierent types of drones with folding wings [313316].
20
Table 15
Comparison between different types of materials [320].
Material Density (g/cm3) Tensile strength @73oF (psi) Stiness Mpa Methods of manufacturing Price
Aluminum 2.7 30,000 70,000 Forging Expensive

Wood 0.8 550 10,000 Adhesive bonding Cheap
Styrofoam 0.18 100 5000 Hotwire cut by CNC Cheap
Plastics (PVC) 1.15 7000 3000 Vacuum forming Very cheap
Carbon ber 1.78 10,0000 50,000 Epoxy resin Very expensive
actuation mechanism. The wing that constitutes the main part of One of the solutions is to use bird feathers and insect wings which
apping wing drones consists of a structural part (spars and ribs) and a can be considered as the main material for the fabrication of the micro
membrane. The light-weight materials used in the building of the wing and nano drones, especially for apping wing drones. Using these
and tails of the apping wing MAVs are foam, wood, composite natural wings and structures can help the drones to y eciently.
materials, such as berglass and ber carbon, and exible membranes, Indeed, these types of materials can provide the drones the best
such as mylar or plastic tissues [256]. Composite materials and foam exibility for their wings.
are usually utilized for the fabrication of the fuselage. To have
symmetric wings, a well-controlled manufacturing method should be
applied for constructing and assembling the wings. In fabricating 6. Propulsion systems and actuators of micro drones
apping wing MAVs, usually a practical cut-and-glue method is
applied, which is considered as the simplest and cheapest way [111]. All of the presented drone congurations need to generate motion.
However, this method is not accurate because all steps are done by Therefore, there are dierent ways to make a drone y [130]. The
hand and therefore there are many uncertainties. As an example, the propulsion system of drones diers according to their shapes and ight
ribs, diagonal, and leading edge spars are often not glued symmetrically modes. For some types of the drones, such as xed wing UAVs the
on the wings [111]. For apping wing MAVs, conventional manufac- propulsion system is usually similar to that on conventional aircraft.
turing methods such as, 3D printing, subtractive machining, and Thus, these drones do not need a unique propulsion system. Therefore,
molding of applied materials are usually used for the fabrication of such drones can avoid the time and expense of developing new systems
the actuation mechanism [23]. [334]. On the other hand, some types of drones require new propulsion
There are other methods which are applied for the fabrication of the technology. Thus, they need new designs and concepts. In propulsion
wings of the apping wing drones which are more accurate than the systems, power and energy densities are two important factors. Power
hand-made ones. The latter method is usually used in the fabrication of density is a measure of the power converter and energy density is a
small apping wings in the NAV and PAV classes. Because their measure of the energy in the power source and the conversion
dimensions are reduced, in addition to actuation mechanism and eciency of the engine [334,335]. The propulsion system for a drone
power system selection, there are also some challenges for the is proportional to the weight, size, mission, endurance, etc. The
manufacturing of the entire drone [23]. At small scales, such as small selected system must provide fuel economy (gas or battery), low
bird-and insect-size drones, some of the mentioned techniques fail weight, small size, and high reliability. Generally, for all types of
because of the restricted resolution. Nowadays, other methods are drones, propulsion systems (engines, fuels, and actuators) typically
proposed and developed. For instance, to avoid the challenges that are constitute 4060% of their take-o weight [334]. It should be men-
inherent in macro-scale nuts-and-bolts approaches, some methods tioned that the performance of the propulsion system has an enormous
based on folding are being used to create insect-sized drones eect on air vehicle performance [335].
[23,326]. Also, the fabrication of a wing for an insect-size drone is a For xed, tilt, and rotary wing UAVs, there are dierent types of
challenging task because of the needed exibility distribution on the propulsion systems which can be used including fuel engines (gas
wing [327]. engine, piston engine, jet engine, gas turbine engine, wankel engine,
injected engine, etc.) and electrical motors (brushed and brushless).
Between the fuel engines, the gas turbine engines are superior to other
5.3. New materials and techniques in drones fabrication alternative engines due to their higher power to weight ratio 36 times
more than piston engines) and reliability [38,334]. These gas turbine
Nowadays, researchers are trying to introduce new materials for the engines can also operate for a long time compared to piston engines
fabrication of drones which have lighter weight and lower prices. For [319,336]. However, because of the low cost and the lack of availability
example, a team of researchers from UC Irvine [328] developed the of small high-performance gas turbine engines, the small piston
world's lightest material which is about one hundred times lighter than engines in current UAVs are more applicable. In other words, alter-
Styrofoam. This new material can be used in the fabrication of drones. native propulsion systems may only be desirable when suitable gas
Kolodziejska et al. [329] proposed micro-sandwich structures with turbines are not available [334].
areal densities from 0.04 g/cm2 down to 0.005 g/cm2 that could For UAVs and MAVs, there are four propulsion options, namely,
potentially be used in the fabrication of wings or propellers of insect- batteries, fuel cells, micro-diesels, and micro gas turbines [8,337]. The
like robots or other micro drones. Self-destructing drones can be made last three types usually have the same fuel consumption per unit power,
of fungus, bacteria, and wasp spit which are proposed to keep the but between them the micro gas turbine engines are smaller and lighter
drones invisible when they are engaged in spying activities [330]. As [334]. The most common and easiest way to y is to use electric motors
mentioned above, the manufacturing approaches of drones are dier- [130]. These types of motors are usually used because of their
ent according to the used materials. 3D-printing is one of the recent reliability, high eciencies, and controllability. Nowadays, there are
methods which allows drones to be created quickly and cheaply two types of electric motors which are used in drones, namely, brushed
[331,332]. The fabrication of inatable drones can be also considered and brushless. Since brushless motors are smaller and lighter than DC
as a new manufacturing method which was proposed by Chinese brushed motors, they are considered more appropriate. In this type of
engineers [333]. These drones have lightweight design and high impact motor, there is no iron core and the magnet is placed inside the coil
resistance [333]. In Fig. 25, some new materials and manufacturing [64]. In addition to the small size and low weight, another advantage of
methods are shown. brushless motors rather than brushed is the lack of iron losses that are
21
Fig. 25. Views of (a and b) micro-lattice material [328,329], (c) self-destructing drones [330], (d) 3D printed drone [331,332], and (e and f) inatable drones [333].
Fig. 26. Views of (a) bird muscle and (b and c) insect muscle [350].
reected in a higher eciency. Furthermore, these electric motors are apping wing actuation mechanism is required which is dependent on
the most suitable propulsion system for the rotary wing drones because the type of apping [325,330]. At NAV scale, the Aero Environment
more than the half of the electric energy is used to generate lift [130]. company recently designed and fabricated a apping wing NAV that
In all of the propulsion systems which use a motor or engine, the uses an actuation mechanism composed of rollers and strings, while
propeller is the integral part of them. still using a geared down motor to provide power at the right frequency
For apping wing MAVs and NAVs, the motor is one of the most [340344]. As for apping wing PAV, Wood et al. [345,346] developed
important parts of a apping wing which constitutes the apping wing apping wings to generate apping motion by applying piezoelectric
propulsion system [338]. Flapping wings need a driver source with actuators. Selecting the appropriate actuator is considered an impor-
high energy density and low vibration. Consequently, electric motors tant part for designing eective apping-wing drones. Dierent
are considered as an interface between the electrical and mechanical actuators can be used to perform the mission including electric motors,
parts where their inputs are voltage and current and their output is a solenoids, Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) wires, and piezoelectric
rotational motion with a specic angular velocity. One of the most elements, depending on the type of apping-wing drones [98,347
important advantages of these motors is the possibility to control their 349].
speed in a wide range [64]. The main reasons for the selection of these For xed and rotary wing drones, which use engines or motors, the
types of motors are their minimal vibration and noise and low fuel eciency of the propulsion system is still low and it can be improved by
consumption. On apping-wing MAVs, electric motors are used. considering new developments in engine technology. For apping-wing
Nowadays, out-runner brushless electric motors are one of the best drones, designing propulsion systems by imitating the muscles of birds
types among brushless electric motors [64,338]. It should be noted that and insects has great future potential. In Fig. 26, schematic views of the
out-runner brushless motors have less speed constant kv (rpm/V) bird and insect muscles are depicted.
compared to other types. Hence, they have lower speed and generate
more torque [255]. Generally, the main criteria in motor selection for 7. Power supply and endurance
apping wings are low weight and high torque. Unfortunately, these
two factors are interdependent because the heavy motors usually Engine-powered drones are usually provided with various fossil fuel
provide more torque [255,339]. Unlike xed wing MAVs, the ap- sources, such as gasoline, methane, and hydrogen. In small drones, and
ping-wing drones require more energy [255]. Modern motors rotate especially in MAVs, the required power is provided by the battery. Over
very fast but only a small amount of torque is provided. Thus, a gearbox 90% of these drones utilize Li-PO batteries. For micro drones, lithium
should be used. The main criteria for gears are their low weight and batteries are the best choice of power due to their low weight [351].
high performance [255,338]. Fossil fuels can produce more energy than batteries, but the available
For apping-wing drones, in addition to the propulsion system, a internal combustion engines for use in these drones have extremely low
22
Table 16 Table 17
Comparison of different batteries with their specific energy, energy density, and specific The characteristics of solar drones [362364].
power [351].
Characteristic Ni-Cd Ni-Mh Li-Po Li-S
[a] VE-100 PAV Vaero Dynamics Inc.
Specic Energy (Wh/kg) 40 80 180 350 [b] Solar-Storm ENAC 300 g 50 cm
Energy Density (Wh/l) 100 300 300 350 prototype
Specic Power (W/kg) 300 900 2800 600 [c] Solarcopter Queen Mary, University of 367 g 121.2 cm
London
[d] Robo Raven III University of Maryland
eciency [38], and the fuel usage may cause stability problems for
micro air vehicles. One of the problems that can face MAVs is that they
can y no more than 30 min when using battery or fuel [351]. of the solar cells and battery is usually used for powering drones
However, the micro fuel cell is under development and this technology [351,361]. Solar cells which are thin, exible, low weight, and ecient
is yet to be used in micro drones [352]. Nowadays, the small Li-Po are applied on the wings of dierent types of drones. Therefore, many
batteries are the most widely used power sources. In Table 16, features examples exist for solar drones, as shown in Fig. 27, and Table 17.
of four types of batteries are compared to each other which show that The solar cells must have low weight, must be exible, and have a
lithium batteries are better choices [351,353]. high eciency. Thin lm solar cells (TFSC) can be used on the wing
The interest to use the micro drones for various missions is surfaces of drones without greatly aecting the aerodynamic eciency
increased. The main problem is their low endurance in comparison [351]. Major limitations of the solar cells can be their high costs, low
with larger drones. Flight time depends on the power consumption. eciency, and their temperature sensitivity. Increased temperatures
Another issue is that the micro drones have limited storage capacity. reduce the power output of solar cells [366,367]. One of the parameters
This has limited their ight endurance up to 30 min [351]. Drones that has a great impact on the maximum power output of solar cells is
drag reduction is one of the main factors for increasing the ight the amount of solar radiation absorbed by the solar cell [368]. Series
endurance. In drones, dierent geometrical and physical parameters, and parallel connections of solar cells are used to achieve the required
such as wing shape, wing span, airfoil, cruise speed, weather condi- voltage and current in order to improve their performance [369].
tions, etc, can be involved in the reduction of the drag and conse- As discussed above, the solar systems cannot produce enough
quently reduction in power consumption [351,353]. In addition to power when drones y in or under clouds or in the dark. Therefore,
considering the design parameters for enhancing the drones endur- the drones which use the solar power as their energy source cannot be
ance, solar panels and piezoelectric energy harvesters can be used as utilized at night. One solution for this problem is to use laser light from
renewable energy sources to enhance the ight endurance or to operate a common power source, such as a portable generator or the electrical
extra sensors and cameras [351,354,355]. grid. This laser beam is directed to a photovoltaic receiver which is
The rst ight using solar cells was performed in 1974 by the installed under the drone [130,370]. In this way, laser power beaming
Sunrise airplane [356], followed in 1980 by the Gossamer penguins technology can provide drones with unlimited ight endurance to
[357]. Other examples of solar drones are Centurion [358], Pathnder overcome the limitations of most drones [371]. One of the main
[359], and Helios [360]. For the micro drones, one of the challenging advantages of wireless power systems is that the energy source is on
issues is their high power consumption and limited power capacity due the ground where power is easier and cheaper to generate [372]. Laser
to their weight limitation. Generally, the ight endurance of these systems do not need to turn o at night and can continuously charge
micro drones rarely exceeds 20 or 30 min [351]. Nowadays, mounting the battery [370]. Even though this system can solve the endurance
solar panels on drones is considered as a common method to increase issues, it has some problems in range of ight. For instance, this system
the ight endurance and usually, the battery is used as a backup when cannot be applied for high altitude UAVs, but it can be a good choice
the solar cells cannot produce enough power ying in or under clouds for rotary wing micro air vehicles which have ight range less than
or in the dark. In other words, a hybrid source which is a combination 5 km. In Fig. 28, a schematic view of the laser power beaming
technology is shown.
Fig. 27. Views of (a) solar tilt-rotor [362], (b) Solar xed wing MAV [353], (c) solar quadrotor [363], and (d and e) solar apping wings [364,365].
23
Fig. 28. Views of laser power for drones [370].
An additional method for increasing the endurance of the drones is size, low weight, and high visibility and clarity are considered as the
harvesting energy from apping motion and morphing. Only one essential features of a video system [378]. In a video base system, the
research study was carried out in the past ve years by Abdelke and images sent from the video-transmitter and the images received by the
Ghommem [355]. They demonstrated that there is an optimum antenna are displayed on a screen at the ground station. Antennas can
electrical load resistance at which the harvested power can be be evaluated by analysis of the output waves. In some cases, ampliers
optimized. They also reported that using the piezoelectric energy are used with the antenna which makes it much easier to receive
harvesting technology from morphing of wings can result in operating pictures [380]. Nowadays, ultrasonic sensors, color, thermal, or infra-
many sensors and cameras from wasted mechanical energy [355]. This red cameras are used to take information about the surrounding
energy harvesting technology can be improved by considering dierent environment of the drones [380]. Small drones often use color cameras
types of vibrations, wind, thermodynamic features of the atmosphere, which are more useful only in the daytime and cannot provide scale
and motion of the drones. information and depth for the captured environment. In a video base
navigation system, computer vision plays an important role in the
8. Guidance, navigation, and control of drones drone's automation. In these systems, computer vision techniques are
used to extract the required information. These captured images are
Over the past 20 years, several research studies have focused on the processed for navigation, stabilization, and further information collec-
guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) for drones, resulting in tion [381]. Usually video transmitters can send signals over a certain
various techniques and methods. Some researchers have tried to review distance, but in many ights, signals cannot be captured for long
dierent GNC systems and subsets [373], such as Ollero and Merino distances. The commercial types of transmitters work only within a
[374] for ight controllers, Chao et al. [375] for autopilots, Goerzen special radius. When drones are out of range, they show one dead zone
et al. [376] for path planning algorithms, and Valavanis [377] for and oblige the drones to reduce the ight radius [378]. The best way for
drones in general. Also, Kendoul [373] has recently performed a guiding, navigating, and controlling the drone is the autopilot system.
comprehensive survey report and organized the large variety of GNC An autopilot is a set of software and hardware which enables the drones
methods. He has provided an overview of GNC systems to increase the to perform their ight missions automatically. For example, by dening
autonomous capabilities of drones. The approaches that have been ight plans, direction and speed can be specied in dierent parts of
reported are organized into three main categories, namely, control, the ight and the drone automatically obeys this ight plan and tries to
navigation, and guidance. For each category, methods are grouped at perform its mission with minimal errors [378].
the highest level based on the autonomy level they provide, and then Nowadays, several types of autopilots exist, such as Micropilot
according to the algorithmic approach used, which in most cases is [382], Piccolo [317], and Paparazzi [317]. Micropilot autopilots have
closely associated with the type of sensors used [373]. In Fig. 29, based some unique capabilities, such as a weight of 28 g, dimensions of
on Kendoul [373] study, dierent categories of GNC systems are 4 cm10 cm, and simultaneously control 24 servos, up to an altitude of
summarized. 12 km, and a radius of 50 km. [382]. In an autopilot system, the ight
Guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of drones are traditionally plan should be uploaded on the system board before ight and at any
carried out through three methods, namely radio control, video base, moment the drone is in contact with the ground station and transmits
and autopilot [378]. One of the most common ways to control and the data, such as altitude, velocity, etc. From the ground station,
navigate drones is using a radio-control system. In this method, drones dierent instructions can be sent through RF modem to the drone.
are controlled by a radio-system that includes a transmitter along with After sending instructions, the autopilot sends them to the servo and
a receiver. In this navigation system, instructions are transmitted to the the drone will perform the desired reaction [378].
drone's electrical components by sending electromagnetic waves [378]. In addition to these mentioned methods, researchers proposed new
Basically Remote Control (RC) equipment consists of a radio trans- approaches to navigate the drones which can be applied in future for
mitter which includes several radio channels. By using any of these small drones. Bublitz [383] applied Google glass to control a quadrotor
channels, the pilot transmits instructions to the drone [379]. In remote drone using head movements. The Google glass can capture the head
control systems, the transmitter range is dierent and usually covers a nods, transform these nodes into ying instructions, and send them
range of about ve kilometers. A radio transmitter for drones must over to the drones. Therefore, applying this system, the drone is
have at least 46 channels to control their dierent ight levels. directly controlled by the commands sensed by the head mounted
Additional channels can be used for camera controlling. In this system, system while the guidance and navigation tasks are solved by the
the receiver is usually used to transmit instructions to the servo motors human pilot. This method can be appropriate for small drones with
and speed controller [378]. limited ight ranges which can perform the hovering ight, such as
For navigation systems by video-base, a camera is installed on the rotary wing MAVs.
drone which is used to take videos and photos when passing regions Another approach was presented by researchers at the University of
and sending them to the ground station by video transmitter. Small Minnesota. They devised a way to use thoughts in order to control the
24
Fig. 29. Classication of GNC systems developed for drones based on Kendoul [373].
Fig. 30. New methods for navigating the small drones (a) Google glass [385], (b) brain-computer interface (BCI) [386], and (c) smart phone [387].
25
Fig. 31. Swarm ight of (a and b) xed wing MAVs [399,400], (c) apping wing PAVs [401], and (d) rotary wings MAVs [402].
Fig. 32. Some new concepts for separation and swarm ight of drones.
movement of a quadrotor. By using a brain-computer interface (BCI), tion expressed in terms of lag of the control loop, control bandwidth,
they made the quadrotor to turn, rise, dip, and even y through a ring and communication loss. Generally, control of drones over short
[384]. The used noninvasive technique was electroencephalography distance results in a negligible lag and high bandwidth with minimal
(EEG) which can record the electrical activity of the subject's brain losses, while control over thousands of miles results in severe lag in
through a cap tted with 64 electrodes [385]. BCI works because of the control, low bandwidth, and signicant losses. Therefore, UAVs cap-
geography of the area of the cerebrum that governs the movement able of long distance and endurance ight are typically equipped with
which is called motor cortex. When there is a movement or the thought augmentation autopilots capable of stabilizing ight in case of loss of
about a movement, neurons in the motor cortex produce small the command and control link. Also, the control scheme is organized
amounts of electric current. Thinking about a dierent movement dierently for the same reason.
activates a new set of neurons. In this method, brain signals are One of the main parts of the navigation methods of drones is the
recorded by the cap and sent to the quadrotor through WiFi [386]. This positioning system. There are dierent methods for positioning the
method, similar to Google glass, has some limitations and can only be drones, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial
used in small drones. To control and navigate the movement of small Navigation System (INS) [388]. In drones, to detect the position,
drones, smart phones were also utilized [387]. In Fig. 30, dierent velocity and altitude, GPS is usually used. To provide the accurate
types of these new methods are shown. position of the drone, GPS should be in contact with at least 4 satellites
Even though these new methods can be applied to control the simultaneously [378]. The GPS signals are easily aected by external
UAVs, the key dierentiating factor here is the quality of communica- noise or interference [38]. Thus, for drones which are only equipped
26
with GPS, it was observed that some of the drones may lose their GPS drones when a few of them malfunction or have other problems, such
connection temporarily for a long time. In these situations, drones have as engine failure [397]. In this situation, the other drones become
to be landed and their mission is aborted due to safety concerns. aware of this problem and they nd a new formation that allows the
Therefore, to avoid this problem, there is a need to design an rest of the drones to collect the data which the damaged drone was
appropriate method which can estimate the location of the drones supposed to collect [398]. Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique
when they temporarily lose their GPS connection [389]. The inertial Federale de Lausanne University [398] developed swarm software for
navigation system is the solution for these situations. The INS includes use in disaster situations. They applied micro drones weighing in at
gyroscopes and accelerometers which are used to calculate the position 420 g each with a wing span of 80 cm. They developed a software to
and orientation of the drones. Nowadays, GPS is commonly combined make the decision as to which ight path is better than another in
with the INS to avoid the errors in positioning [390,391]. These two disaster situations. In Fig. 31, some types of swarm ight of dierent
types of signals are combined together to produce accurate navigational types of drones are shown.
information. Kalman lter is considered as the common algorithm used New designs can be oered for separation and swarm ight. For
to fuse the measurements [392]. In other words, the extended Kalman example, a huge drone can be separated into many micro drones to
lter (EKF) is used to estimate the location of the drones that lose their make a formation ight based on a dened mission. In other words,
GPS connection temporarily [389]. drones will have the ability to carry and release micro drones that can
A new method that can be proposed and considered for navigating be designed to conduct swarm ights. These concepts are indicated, in
and directing the small drones is applying the telecommunication Fig. 32 [403].
network and internet for sending instructions to drones. The range It is predicted that the advent of advanced technologies, such as
restriction of the previous methods can be solved by applying this highly capable microprocessors which use multipliers, dividers, high
method. According to the increasing expansion of telecommunication speed compressors, and high precision AD/DA blocks [404407],
networks across the planet and the low altitude ight of the micro radar-absorbing materials, increased data-link rates, high-bandwidth
drones, this system can be an appropriate method for directing drones, communications, and new navigation systems integrated onto drones
such as MAVs. In addition to its low cost, this system can have a will be an invaluable key to carry out very complicated missions [408].
considerable range in comparison with the other control methods.
Using drones equipped with this system can be useful for intelligence 10. Conclusions
activities [378].
Recent researches and studies in the eld of ying drones including
9. Swarm ight of drones xed and apping wing vehicles were consolidated and deeply dis-
cussed. A new classication of these drones was rst proposed. This
Using one drone only for a specied mission can be risky because classication includes various classes of drones, such as unmanned air
the drone may encounter some technical or other problems, but various vehicles, micro air vehicles, nano air vehicles, pico air vehicles, and
missions can be performed with more eciency by applying multiple smart dust. These ying drones can be used to carry out various civil
drones. Therefore, nowadays due to advances in communication, and military missions. These possible missions were reviewed includ-
intelligent software, and processing power, the swarm ight of drones ing search and rescue, environment protection, mailing and delivery,
is considered as one of the important topics in drones studies. A swarm space exploration. The used design methods and their challenges were
ight of drones has an advantage, if one drone of the swarm is lost in also consolidated for all types of drones. Possible solutions for the
ight, the rest of the drones can carry out the mission. Also, in swarm design challenges were proposed and discussed. In addition to that, the
ight, a combination of various types of drones with dierent sizes and used manufacturing methods and challenges, propulsion systems and
congurations can make a formation ight. actuators, power supply and endurance, control and navigation of
Swarm intelligence is a novel eld of bio-inspired articial intelli- drones were reviewed with proposing new ideas to get rid of the
gence based on the behavioral models of swarm ight of birds and existing limitations. The importance of swarm ight and separation of
insects, such as ants, bees, wasps, termites, etc [393]. In nature, there drones was also discussed.
are dierent types of swarming organisms which are called by dierent
names. For example, a group of ants or bees are called a swarm, but a Acknowledgment
group of birds are called a ock [394]. A swarm is dened as a
conguration of many individuals that have a common goal. Swarm The authors would like to thank the Editor, Professor Max F.
Intelligence is the complex collective, self-organized, coordinated, Platzer, and anonymous reviewer(s) for their valuable comments and
exible, and robust behavior of a group which follows a simple rule suggestions.
[395]. Swarming studies of non-aerial vehicles, such as small robots,
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What are the different classifications of drones discussed in the paper?

What are the different classifications of drones discussed in the paper?

What design and fabrication challenges are discussed regarding micro drones?

What design and fabrication challenges are discussed regarding micro drones?

Progress in Aerospace Sciences xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Progress in Aerospace Sciences

Classications, applications, and design challenges of drones: A review

Class Type Weight range

Class I(a) Nano drones W200 g

Fig. 2. Dierent types of air drones.

[a] RQ-4 Global Northrop Grumman 14,628 kg 39.9 m

2.2.3. Cyclocopter UAVs

Type PAV NAV MAV UAV UAV

fabricate quad-copters (Orvillecopter and OstrichCopter), tricopter

can be used for reconnaissance inside buildings. As reported in

Fig. 15. Classication of drones applications.

Fig. 16. Application of drones in search and rescue missions [191194].

Fig. 17. Application of drones in environmental protection.

Fig. 18. Application of drones in mailing and delivery [198200].

3.4. Space drones

Fig. 19. Application of drones in space [201204].

Table 14 technology, there are some gaps in their design.

process [242244]. Because of using trial and error methods in

4.2. Challenges in apping wing design

To design bio-inspired apping wing drones, some methods are

Aluminum 2.7 30,000 70,000 Forging Expensive

Fig. 28. Views of laser power for drones [370].

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