Design considerations for a low altitude long endurance solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle

Author

Meyer, J. ; du Plessis, J.A.F. ; Ellis, P. ; Clark, W.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Johannesburg, Johannesburg

fYear

2007

fDate

26-28 Sept. 2007

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

7

Abstract

This paper presents design considerations for a low altitude long endurance solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle (LALE UAV). The considerations addressed include the determination of the available solar power, the design of the UAV wing for long endurance flights and the determination of the electrical power and energy balance of the UAV. Using these considerations, a solar powered UAV was designed and long endurance flight simulated Based on the simulation results it is in principle possible to design and build a solar powered LALE UAV.

Keywords

aircraft; remotely operated vehicles; solar powered vehicles; low altitude long endurance flight; low altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle; solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle; Aircraft propulsion; Combustion; Fuels; Military aircraft; Photovoltaic cells; Remote monitoring; Renewable energy resources; Solar energy; Surveillance; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Autonomous Flight; Low Altitude Long Endurance Flight; Solar Power; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

AFRICON 2007

Conference_Location

Windhoek

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-0987-7

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-0987-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AFRCON.2007.4401516

Filename

4401516