Introduction to UAV Systems

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been widely adopted in the military world over the last decade and the success of these military applications is increasingly driving efforts to establish unmanned aircraft in non-military roles.

Introduction to UAV Systems, 4^th edition provides a comprehensive introduction to all of the elements of a complete Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). It addresses the air vehicle, mission planning and control, several types of mission payloads, data links and how they interact with mission performance, and launch and recovery concepts. This book provides enough information to encourage a student to learn more; to provide a specialist with a basic appreciation of the technical issues that drive other parts of the system and interact with their specialty; or to help a program manager understand system-level tradeoffs and know what questions to ask.  

Key features:

• Comprehensive overview of all elements of a UAS and of how they interact.
• Introduces the underlying concepts of key subsystems.
• Emphasizes system-integration issues and how they relate to subsystem design choices.
• Practical discussion of issues informed by lessons learned in UAV programs.

Introduction to UAV Systems, 4^th edition is written both for newcomers to the subject and for experienced members of the UAV community who desire a comprehensive overview at the system level.

As well as being a primary text for an introductory course on UAS or a supplementary text in a course that goes into more depth in one of the individual technologies involved in a UAS, this book is a useful overview for practicing engineers, researchers, managers, and consultants interested in UAV systems.

Col Paul G Fahlstrom, USMC, Retd., USA
Paul G. Fahlstrom began his career as aNaval Aviator (Marine Pilot). After completing active duty he worked for the Navy and subsequently joined NASA at the Goddard Space flight Center specializing in flight controls. Following six years with Goddard I became the government project engineer responsible for the Supersonic Transport (SST) flight control system, later moving to the Department of Transportation where he was responsible for reviewing R&D. He subsequently joined the Aviation Division of the Army Material Command as a Weapon Systems Staff Manager responsible for management of the Army&'s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle systems.

Dr. Thomas J Gleason, Consultant, USA
Dr. Thomas Gleason founded Gleason research Associates to conduct engineering and scientific analyses and evaluations related to missile and sensor systems. Prior to founding GRA, Dr. Gleason performed engineering and scientific analyses of the target acquisition sensors and laser designator of the Aquila Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
Dr. Gleason is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University where he received a Bachelor of Arts, and a Ph.D in Physics.He completed Military education through Command and General Staff College and retired from the Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel. Dr. Gleason is a member of the American Physical Society and is a recipient of the Harry Diamond Laboratories R&D Achievement Award and the Cogswel Award (as Facility Security Officer of GRA, for outstanding Industrial Security program). He is the Author or Co-author of over 100 technical reports related to his areas of expertise.