Fixed wing drone, unlike their multirotor counterparts, they are small airplanes without any onboard pilots and they depend on their two wings for lift. As their wings are fixed and they depend on their wings for lift so these drones have better aerodynamic shape. This better aerodynamic shape gives fixed wing drones a very big advantage over multirotor drones which are increased flight times and wider range and increased speed. Due to these advantages fixed wing drone can cover vast areas, making them ideal for applications demanding wider coverage.
What is Fixed Wing Drone
Before knowing what is fixed wing drone we have to know what is a wing and what is fixed wing . A wing is a combination of many aero foil which are designed to produce lift for an aircraft. Fixed wing can be defined as wing which are attached directly to the fuselage of an aircraft and doesn’t rotate of revolve while flying. A fixed wing aircraft depends upon the freestream airflow relative to the wings for producing lift while flying.
So from the information above, we can define fixed wing drone as an aircraft which has two wings attached to the fuselage for producing lift which always remains fastened and firm and doesn’t rotate or revolve while flying.
A small part at the trailing edge of a fixed wing moves upward and downward. This moveable part of a fixed wing is called aileron. Aileron is a French word which stands for little wing or fin. Aileron is required for banking movement for drone which has fixed wing.
Key benefits Of Fixed Wing Drone
- Increased Speed: Fixed wing drones have very efficient aerodynamic shape, causing very low drag while flying. Because of this low drag, they are capable of flying at a very high speed..
- Extensive Coverage: Fixed wing drone has high endurance. Fuel based fixed wing drone can stay is air for 20 hours. Thus they can cover significantly larger distances. optimizing data collection over larger areas. Which makes them very efficient for surveying, mapping, and agricultural monitoring.
- Stability in Wind: Their design is very compact including two wings, one fuselage and landing gear system. This design provides better steadiness in windy conditions. Which ensures proper and accurate data capture.
- High Payload Capacity: These drones have more payload carrying capacity compared to multirotor drones. This allows diverse use of this drones by the users.
Uses of Fixed Wing Drone:
This type of drones has multiple use cases. Such as
- Agriculture: This type of drone can be used for monitoring crop health, irrigation, and livestock.
- Surveying and Mapping: They can be used very efficiently for creating high-resolution maps and 3D models.
- Infrastructure Inspection: They are also used for assessing pipelines, power lines, and bridges.
- Search and Rescue: These drones are very ideal for search and rescue mission. As they can survey an area very accurately, they can locate individuals in remote areas or in challenging environments such as flood, landslide etc.
- Military Use: They are also used by military forces of different countries for surveying as well as attacking.
Drawbacks:
- They require a runway or launch system for takeoff and landing, limiting their use in confined spaces.
- They are very costly.
- As they depend upon the airflow relative to the wings, they cannot hover.
- Their maneuvering ability is very low.
Conclusion:
Having a large scale of application with very few drawbacks we can say that fixed wing drones are very valuable tool for a wide range of industries. They offer unique capabilities long range operations over a very large area. It is indeed a revolutionary invention of modern science.