The U.S. Air Force is calling for industry to build a hybrid-powered unmanned aircraft able to be carried and operated by only one person on battlefield situational awareness missions. It should weigh less than 20 pounds and be able to carry a 4-pound electro-optical payload on missions over rough terrain for at least four hours. The total cost of the programme is expected to be about $2.2 million.
Category Archives: Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
Nanotechnology to Store Hydrogen in a Solid State
Scientists at The University of Glasgow and EADS Innovation Works (EADS IW) are working on using nanotechnology to improve the efficiency of the Hydrisafe tank developed by Hydrogen Horizons Ltd, a small start-up company, to store hydrogen in a solid state. By modifying the composition and microstructure of the tank and hydrogen storage materials through nanotechnology, they hope to make it possible to store and distribute the hydrogen so efficiently that it becomes viable for powering fuel cells on aeroplanes.
Global Observer Test Flight at Edwards Air Force Base
An experimental UAS with a wingspan almost the size of a Boeing 747 took to the skies over the Mojave Desert last week in a test flight from Edwards Air Force Base, reports the LA Times. On Thursday, the Global Observer performed its first test demonstrating its ability to use liquid hydrogen as fuel. It circled above Edwards at about 3,000 feet above ground level in a four-hour test, according to AeroVironment executives.
Hybrid Energy Storage System for UAS
A paper proposing a hybrid energy storage system to solve the energy issues of long endurance UAS, presented at the IECON 2010 – the 36th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, has just been published at the IEEE Digital Library. It is available online to members and subscribers.