Conception, Design and Flight Testing of a Tube-Launched Jettisonable-Fin Foldable Multirotor

Tube-launched multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), as rapid-response aerial platforms, demonstrate significant advantages in emergency reconnaissance and hazardous environment monitoring. While conventional designs employ tail fins to ensure post-launch passive stability, these structures often induce gust disturbances during mission phases. Addressing the inherent conflict between ballistic stability and operational efficiency in traditional tail configurations, this paper presents a Tube-Launched Jettisonable-Fin Foldable Multirotor (TL-JFM)—a foldable UAV featuring an innovative jettisonable-fin solution: the electromagnetically-actuated system actively jettison fins during the deployment phase following passive aerodynamic stabilization after launch. Constructed with 3D-printed carbon fiber composites, TL-JFM achieves vertical launches from 100 mm-diameter tubes. Experimental results confirm its 75 ms morphological transition capability and validate smooth transition from passive flight to active stabilization at 7.58 m/s initial velocity, with attitude recovery accomplished within 2 s.