Aeromechanics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles / Drones

By Prof. Abhishek | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 3539 | Exam registration: 921

ABOUT THE COURSE: This course covers key topics related to aeromechanics of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), it gives quick introduction to aeromechanics of miniature flying machines of various kinds required for design and development of autonomous UAS. The goal of the course is to enable students to get comprehensive overview of aeromechanics relevant for carrying out design and research related to autonomous UAS of all types: fixed wing, rotary wing and VTOL. The course covers basics of aerodynamic and flight mechanics of fixed wing and rotary wing systems.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: This is an ideal course for a student from Aerospace or non-Aerospace Background to get complete working knowledge of basic aeromechanics of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. The course covers basics of aerodynamic and flight mechanics of fixed wing and rotary wing systems. It can be taken by UG students who are interested in UAV / drones as well as PG students who wish to get introductory knowledge of drones / UAVs

PREREQUISITES: This course is an introductory course that can be taken by students with any Engineering background who are interested in creating working knowledge to delve deeper in to UAV technology

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: UAV / Drone industry would value this significantly, some relevant companies are:

1.Ideaforge Technology Ltd.

2.New Space Research

3.Aarav Unmanned System / Aerio

4.Asteria Aerospace

5.EndureAir System Pvt. Ltd.

6.Raphe Mphibr

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Aerospace Engineering Flight Mechanics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	19 Jan 2026
End Date :	10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	02 Feb 2026
Exam Registration Ends :	20 Feb 2026
Exam Date :	25 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Introduction to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Types of UAVs, applications, design process and design goals

Week 2: UAS as a System of Systems, description of each sub-system and its role, fixed wing primary control, introduction to aerodynamics

Week 3: Aerodynamic performance – lift, drag, L/D, effect of pitching moment, wing loading for UAVs, stalling speed,

Week 4: Concept of load factor, range, endurance, rate of climb etc. for fixed wing UAVs with fuel as well as battery power

Week 5: Low Reynolds number aerodynamics, Propeller Theory

Week 6: Introduction to rotary wing aerodynamics, momentum theory in hover, definition of nomenclature for rotary wing systems

Week 7: Momentum theory in climb, descent and forward flight

Week 8: Blade element theory, rotors in axial and edgewise flight

Week 9: Blade Element Momentum Theory, Prandtl tip loss function.

Week 10: Performance of rotary wing UAVs, range, endurance, rate of climb, maximum speed

Week 11: Introduction to flapping wing UAVs and unsteady aerodynamics

Week 12: Flight dynamics of UAVs with focus on Quadrotor Flight dynamics

Books and references

1.Principles of Helicopter Aerodynamics - Gordon J. Leishman, 2nd Edition, Cambridge Aerospace Series, 2006.

2.Beard, R., and McLain, T., Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and Practice, Princeton University Press, 2012.

3.Fundamentals of Helicopter Dynamics, C. Venkatesan, CRC Press, 2014.

4.Shkarayev, S. V., Ifju, P. G., Kellogg, J. C., and Mueller, T. J., Introduction to the Design of Fixed-Wing Micro Air Vehicles Including Three Case Studies, AIAA Education Series, 2007.

5. Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics, J. Seddon, 3rd Edition, Wiley, 2011.

Instructor bio

Prof. Abhishek

IIT Kanpur

Dr. Abhishek is a Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur (IITK). He joined IIT Kanpur as a faculty in 2011, after finishing his MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. During his graduate studies, he was awarded with Vertical Flight Foundation scholarship and won the first prize in American Helicopter Society Student Design Competition for designing a high-speed mountain rescue helicopter. He pursued his B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and received President’s Silver Medal and J.C. Ghosh award for being the best academician in his department.

He spearheaded the development of new interdisciplinary MTech program with funding received by Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) to offer degree in Unmanned System Technology. Which is first such MTech degree program initiated in India. Having conducted research for over 14 years in manned and unmanned vertical takeoff and landing aerial systems, Abhishek has made contributions towards extending the ‘state-of-the-art’ of manned and unmanned rotary wing aerial systems through fundamental as well as applied research in the domain. He was awarded Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) – Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellowship for the year 2018 for having carried out highly innovative and application-oriented research in unmanned aerial vehicles and wind turbines. He is currently the chairman of Unmanned Aerial System panel of Aeronautical Research and Development Board and has founded a UAV company called EndureAir Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 25, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.

Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team