FLYING WITH EAGLES SMALL SAILPLANE MAY HAVE BIG IMPACT ON UAVS.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - With the graceful flight of hawks and eagles in mind, NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. aerospace engineer Michael Allen hand-launched a lightweight motorized mo·tor·ize tr.v. mo·tor·ized, mo·tor·iz·ing, mo·tor·iz·es 1. To equip with a motor. 2. To supply with motor-driven vehicles. 3. To provide with automobiles. model sailplane sailplane: see glider. over Rogers Dry Lake, hoping it would catch plumes of rising air called thermals. It did just that numerous times, validating his premise that using thermal lift could significantly extend the range and endurance of small unmanned aerial vehicles
``The flights demonstrated that a small UAV UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle UAV Unmanned Air Vehicle UAV Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle UAV Unmanned Airborne Vehicle UAV Uninhabited Air Vehicle UAV Urban Assault Vehicle UAV Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle (less common) can mimic birds and exploit the free energy that exists in the atmosphere,'' Allen said. Allen noted that a small, portable UAV with long-endurance capabilities could fulfill a number of surveillance roles including forest fire monitoring, traffic control and search and rescue. He said this technology might also have an application to flight on Mars where dust devils have been observed. Nicknamed Cloud Swift after a bird known for feeding on insects found in rising air masses, the 14-foot-wingspan remote-controlled RnR Products sailplane flew 17 times over an eight-week period from July through mid-September. The model sailplane was modified to incorporate a small electric motor and an autopilot, the latter reprogrammed to detect thermals or updrafts. Dryden aerospace technician Tony Frackowiak guided the model to an altitude of about 1,000 feet and then handed off control to the sailplane's autopilot. The software flew the aircraft on a predetermined pre·de·ter·mine v. pre·de·ter·mined, pre·de·ter·min·ing, pre·de·ter·mines v.tr. 1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: course over the northern portion of Rogers Dry Lake until it detected an updraft up·draft n. An upward current of air. updraft An upward current of warm, moist air. With enough moisture, the current may visibly condense into a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. Compare downdraft. . As the aircraft rose, the engine automatically shut off and the aircraft circled to stay within the convective lift resulting from the updraft. ``I have some experience flying radio-controlled sailplanes and working the lift manually as an RC pilot. The autopilot looked like it was doing a good job of detecting and using the lift in certain conditions,'' said Frackowiak. Allen said the small UAV added 60 minutes to its endurance by soaring autonomously, using thermals that formed over the dry lake bed. The model gained an average altitude in 23 updrafts of 565 feet, and in one strong thermal ascended 2,770 feet. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Michael Allen hand-launches a lightweight motorized model sailplane over Rogers Dry Lake, hoping it would catch plumes of rising air called thermals. NASA |
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