Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - Rotary

No one can see over the curve of the sea – unless they have help. Recent work is developing a technique to overcome this dilemma and other surveillance problems with mini helicopters. A 100kg helicopter UAV is being developed by the school that could be operated from coastal surveillance vessels used for Customs and border protection. A scaled down prototype has already demonstrated the preliminary generation of systems, which would allow a UAV to maintain a stable position above a ship, which is being tossed about, in high seas, and to land and launch from a heaving deck automatically. The research includes development of special sensors that can be used to determine the exact position of the helicopter relative to the deck. By integrating the helicopter sensor information with prediction of the ship’s motion, the autonomous helicopter can compensate for the ship motion whilst hovering above or landing on the deck. A special securing mechanism has been developed to lock the aircraft to the deck immediately after touchdown and before launch.

 

Contact: Matt Garratt