Design methodologies and prototyping of a starter-generator for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for civil applications.

During the recent years the development and use of uninhabited aircraft, in the form of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) has progressed quickly. An uninhabited aircraft is defined as the general term for UAV (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), ROA (Remotely Operated Aircraft), and RPV (Remotely Piloted Vehicle), [1]. UAVs are to be understood as uninhabited and reusable motorized aerial vehicles [2], which are remotely controlled, semi-autonomous, autonomous, or have a combination of these capabilities, and that can carry various types of payloads, making them capable of performing specific tasks within the earth's atmosphere, or beyond, for a duration that is related to their missions. A cruise missile or an intelligent bomb can't be considered an UAV, as, according to the above definition, it must be reusable. Despite its huge potential in several applications, the utilization of such a technology was mainly reserved, in the past years, to the military field [3]. Nowadays, because of their remarkable potential, they're becoming more and more attractive also for some civil application.