The course will include consideration of the fluid dynamic aspects involved in their design and operation: low Reynolds number flows, laminar separation bubbles, transitional and unsteady flows. The lectures will cover both experimental and numerical modeling techniques. While large UAS generally use fixed wings, small UAS also use rotary wings or some type of moving or flapping surfaces to generate appropriate lift, and micro UAS invariably use such insect-like 3-DoF moving surfaces, where one has to deal with low Reynolds number unsteady flows including presence of laminar or transitional separation bubbles.

Being able to predict and measure steady and unsteady aerodynamic loads and moments, especially for Micro UAS, including unsteady separation bubbles and occurrence of transition, is a challenge for both numerical modelers and experimentalists.