The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of $1,525,000 to a University of Minnesota team led by Prof. Nikos Papanikolopoulos to develop the world’s smallest solar-powered unmanned air vehicle (UAV) capable of multi-day flight.
Equipped with environmental sensors, the solar powered UAV will facilitate optimal energy production by wind, maximal crop yield on agricultural landscapes, and safe aquatic ecosystems for recreation and water supply uses. Specific research activities that will be enabled by a solar UAV include renewable energy, atmospheric turbulence in wind farms, food production/precision agriculture, and environmental conservation/detection of harmful algal blooms. In each of these cases the small scale and long duration flight capability of the solar UAV are what make them practical concepts.
The team members include Fotis Sotiropoulos, Miki Hondzo, and Jiarong Hong (St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, UMN), Maria Gini, Tian He, and Vassilios Morellas (Dept.of Computer Science and Engineering, UMN), Demoz Gebre-Egziabher (Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, and Mechanics, UMN), and David Mulla (Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, UMN).
Source: Press Release