2014–2017 · Undergraduate aircraft design

Rapid-deployment foldable reconnaissance aircraft

A hand-launched fixed-wing aircraft designed to fit with its mission equipment inside a compact transport case. Its three-section folding wing and tail layout enabled rapid deployment while retaining a stable airframe for reconnaissance, target identification, and payload delivery tasks.

The foldable reconnaissance aircraft during a flight test

Underside view of the foldable reconnaissance aircraft in flight

Liming Zheng hand-launching the foldable reconnaissance aircraft — Liming hand-launching the aircraft for a flight test.

Liming Zheng checking the foldable reconnaissance aircraft before take-off — Pre-flight inspection before another test sortie.

Project context

Undergraduate aircraft-design project

Liming's contribution

As one of the principal designers, Liming worked across aerodynamic and structural design, fabrication, flight-control integration, the retractable camera platform, and extensive flight testing.

Selected outcomes

Reliable unfolding in less than 10 seconds
FPV reconnaissance and real-time image transmission
Retractable pan-tilt camera and stabilised flight control
Developed through repeated national competition cycles and more than 100 training flights