Building better tools: Experimental UAV research at West Virginia University

The purpose of this paper is to share experiences acquired by researchers at West Virginia University in developing and flight testing customized small fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The design for two families of research UAVs, the YF-22 and the Phastball, are discussed. Applications of these research vehicles, including formation flight control, sensor fusion, aircraft parameter identification, differential thrust and thrust vectoring, aviation safety research, and remote sensing, are briefly reviewed.