Yak 54 Fixed Wing UAV

The Yak-54 UAV has been specifically developed for the researcher. Viking Aerospace has integrated the WePilot fixed wing flight control system with a commercially available, off-the-shelf airframe resulting in an extremely affordable and maintainable unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The Yak-54 UAS has the following key features:

yak_54

Low Cost

Not just acquisition cost… individual airframe components are available such as wings, fuselage, and horizontal tails separately and at low cost to our customers! Yes, the FCS is still the majority of the acquisition cost. This is why we place the high quality IMU, GPS, and flight computer in a rugged custom machined aluminum housing. Because we want to keep costs low, this aircraft does not have automatic takeoff and landing features. These functions are performed by an R/C pilot who can enable/disable the autopilot with a switch on the r/c transmitter.

Implement your own autonomous control algorithms

We provide a serial port on the flight computer for your high level commands (airspeed, vertical velocity, and turn rate (actually course rate). This architecture is perfect for testing obstacle avoidance, terrain following, automatic landing, etc. technologies without the need for the researcher to redevelop the inner-loop controllers! Of course, this system does come standard with its own aerospace-grade waypoint tracking ability and easy-to-use command, control, and data collecting ground-station software. Click here for more information on the autopilot system.

Robust Control based on H-infinity methods

What does this mean? Stability is maintained through a much broader range of parameter uncertainties. This means we wont be doing “gain tuning exercises” every time a new payload is introduced! The robustness also allows us to have an expanded flight envelope even under very high wind conditions.

Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation

We provide a simulation environment that allows the user to simulate UAV operations without ever leaving the lab. This can greatly enhance the productivity of actual flight testing.

Aircraft Data

Wingspan:94" (239cm)
Empty Weight:25 lbs (11 kg)
Max Gross Weight:33 lbs (15 kg)

Performance

Operatrional Radius: 7 miles Standard
Endurance: 40 min Cruise
Operating Speed: 50 mph to 80 mph
wepilot2000 wecontrol_gcs

Technical Brochure (.pdf 482KB)