Development of a Hand-Launched Small UAV for Ground Reconnaissance

The engineering design of a hand-launched, small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV), including guidance strategy and control design, together with real data from practical flight tests, is presented. The main goal in this work is the implementation of a low cost, portable, and reliable aerial platform for ground reconnaissance. The vehicle was specially designed so that the number of necessary sensors and actuators was reduced, without precluding the feasibility of the assigned mission.