ABSTRACT
The factor of paramount importance is cognitive and it lies at the heart of the design process. The selection or design process is one of reconciling these inconsistencies to maximize performance. Torque effect is present in both fixed-wing and rotary-wing designs, but much more dominant in the latter. In comparison to the design of fixed-wing UASs, the low-speed operational envelope and directional agility of rotary-wing aircraft render the consideration of drag less important in the design process. Just as the nature of the mission touches upon nearly every aspect of UAS design, so, too, does the choice of airframe and powerplant influence, even dictate, the method of launching and recovering many UAS configurations. In the civilian world, for the foreseeable future, obtaining remotely sensed data as one step in delivering a finished data product is often the very reason for the development of a particular UA platform and its associated systems.
