Solar nnmanned aircraft

Ben Coughlan (College of Engineering and Computer Science)

SOLAR SEMINAR SERIES

DATE: 2012-01-19
TIME: 15:00:00 - 16:00:00
LOCATION: Ian Ross Seminar Room
CONTACT: JavaScript must be enabled to display this email address.

ABSTRACT:
Unmanned aircraft are becoming increasingly popular for use in defence, law enforcement and civilian applications. Many of these emerging applications require the aircraft to remain airborne for many hours, even days at a time. Such endurance usually requires very large and expensive aircraft. While battery and fuel cell technologies are improving and becoming more common on smaller aircraft, solar is the most promising energy that can be harvested from the environment while airborne. In combination with behavioural algorithms designed to optimise the energy usage of the aircraft and gain energy from air movement, solar energy is a required step on the path to persistent flight. Unmanned aircraft present unique challenges for deploying photovoltaic technologies and require some unconventional solutions.