The aerodynamic performance of a wing model with a row of distributed engines are investigated at the vertical take-off condition. The engines are installed near the trailing edge of the wing. During vertical take-off, the jets exit from the engines and impinge perpendicularly to the ground, providing a thrust for the aircraft. Due to the ground effects, complex vortex structures are induced by the jets. The vortices are categorised into the spanwise vortices and the chordwise vortices. The underwing vortices can lead to low-pressure regions on the lower surface of the wing, resulting in an undesirable downward force. The underwing vortex structures are affected by the ratio of the engine distance to the engine diameter ($S/D$). At a small $S/D$ = 1.10, the flow field is dominated by the spanwise vortices; at a large $S/D$ = 2.78, the flow field is dominated by the chordwise vortices. The range and strength of the spanwise vortices are affected by the vortices interaction. Competition mechanism exists between the range and strength effects, which results in the non-linear variation of the wing lift coefficient with engine spacing. The details of the flow physics underneath the wing and its mechanism on the lift of the wing during take-off are investigated.

In this paper, we examine some of the physics behind Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) flying machines, and some of the emerging technologies that are driving the recent upsurge of new VTOL projects. The paper attempts to put these into context by examining some of the projects that have been publicised over the past couple of years, particularly those that transition from hovering into wing-borne flight. Although much progress has been made, there still needs to be significant breakthroughs in technologies, particularly battery technology, before the dream of fast, quiet and environmentally friendly inter-city VTOL aircraft can be realised.

In this paper, a new type of fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been designed. Thrust-vector direct force control has been introduced in three axes to make UAV exhibit superior manoeuverability in transition flight. Considering the characteristics of UAV's dynamic model, which are non-linear, non-affine, and have redundant input, a two-stage progressive optimal control allocation method is developed, which can optimise position and attitude control in synthetical, and motivate effectors to generates desired force and moments. A task-oriented weight selection scheme is proposed to make objective function suitable for different tasks and flight conditions. In addition, a general constraint strategy is designed to guarantee the feasibility of optimal allocation results, which can largely reduce the onboard computation time. Simulations show that UAV can adjust flight attitude and use control effectors in an optimal way, and demonstrating satisfactory tracking of low-speed high-manoeuver flight paths.