A brief overview on miniature fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

In recent years, research and development of unmanned vehicles have gained much attention in the academic and military communities worldwide. Objects like unmanned aircraft, underwater exploiters, satellites and intelligent robotics are widely investigated as they have potential applications in both military and civilian domains. We present in this paper a brief overview on miniature fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, which includes a review on the historical development of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft, the hardware configuration of the unmanned systems, and some of their representative applications in the military and civilian sectors.