A Novel Configuration of Aquatic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Alternative Approach to Explore the Stability of Floating

AquaUAV (Aquatic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) exhibit enormous application potential in fields such as maritime emergency rescue, marine scientific exploration, and maritime territorial security. However, the complexity of their water-floating characteristics severely restricts performance enhancement. This paper proposes a novel vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aquatic aircraft layout. By implementing foldable large-aspect-ratio wings, this configuration fully leverages the buoyancy of wing components, resolving the design contradictions among the pressure center, center of gravity, and buoyancy center during water-floating of AquaUAV, thus improving water-floating stability. This paper presents an alternative method for static water-floating stability of AquaUAV, and illustrate the shortboard effect of floating bodies. By defined the rotational potential energy, the paper provides recommended values for the wing design of the proposed aquatic UAV layout, ensuring the UAV achieves optimal surface floating stability.