In case anybody is interested in unmanned flight...
Posted 10/23/2000
Researchers Announce Plans To
Attempt First Unmanned Flight
Across The Pacific Ocean
October 20, 2000 -- Researchers at the University of Washington
and The Insitu Group this week announced plans to attempt the
first unmanned flight across the Pacific Ocean.
The transpacific attempt, a journey of more than two days, will
likely be flown next summer or fall by the team's newest minature
robotic airplane, an autonomously flying craft small enough to fit
inside a minivan. The attempt follows the UW and Insitu's historic
first flight across the Atlantic Ocean with a robotic aircraft in 1998.
"This is the next logical step," said Juris Vagners, professor of
aeronautics and astronautics at the UW. "This will demonstrate
truly long-range performance for miniature robotic aircraft, and
readiness to enter service in offshore weather reconnaissance and
other applications."
The announcement was made at the Kirsten Wind Tunnel on the
UW campus, where the airframe for Insitu's new "Seascan"
aircraft was undergoing tests. Seascan is similar in size to the old
"Aerosonde" line that made the transatlantic crossing, weighing in
at 29 pounds. But it's much different in appearance. The Seascan
has a 4.5-foot fuselage, a 10-foot wingspan and no tail.
"It looks like a tube with wings," said Tad McGeer, president of
Insitu, a small firm located in Bingen, Wash., which has been
working with UW on robotic aircraft for several years. "It is
designed especially for ship-based reconnaissance. It has to be
practical for shipboard launch and retrieval, and while onboard it
must fold easily into a box. That drives the aerodynamic design."
Seascan will offer new capability for commercial fishermen,
oceanographers, the military and others looking for an economical
way to find out what's going on in the ocean around them.
Seascan also features new technology that will significantly boost
performance over the Aerosonde. "We can make a Seascan
version capable of flying much farther than our transatlantic
demonstrator," McGeer said. "We can fly across the Pacific."
In the 1998 demonstration, an Aerosonde flew 2,000 miles from
Newfoundland to Scotland in 26 hours 45 minutes on 1.5 gallons
of fuel. The Pacific crossing will begin in Asia and end in
Washington state, skirting south of the Aleutian Islands, a distance
of approximately 5,000 miles. The flight will take more than two
days.
The aircraft are autonomous in flight, navigating via a GPS system.
The user simply specifies waypoint coordinates, airspeeds and
altitudes, and then launches the aircraft. During the Atlantic flight,
researchers lost contact with the Aerosonde after it flew over the
horizon and had to wait, in suspense, until re-establishing contact
near Scotland. During the Pacific crossing the group plans to keep
tabs on progress via satellite.
The ability to fly such long distances opens the door to better
weather prediction. Miniature robotic aircraft can provide an
inexpensive method of gathering meteorological data on a large
scale.
"We have good data over land, but not over oceans because there
is no lower altitude instrumentation there, only satellite and airliner
measurements" Vagners said. "You could use manned aircraft, or
you could deploy a ship with weather balloons, but that's
prohibitively expensive. Using miniature robotic aircraft will be a
very affordable alternative."
Researchers and students at the UW and Insitu are ramping up
engineering work. Trials are expected to begin in spring, with the
transpacific attempt in summer or early fall.
More information about the transpacific attempt can be found at
aa.washington.edu
and additional information about Seascan is at
insitugroup.com.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University
Of Washington for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish
to quote from any part of this story, please credit University Of Washington
as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any
citation:
sciencedaily.com |
