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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Analyzing Carbohydrate-Based Regenerative Fuel Cells As A Power Source For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Olek Wojnar
Analyzing Carbohydrate-Based Regenerative Fuel Cells As A Power Source For Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Olek Wojnar
Theses and Dissertations
Based on current capabilities, we examine the feasibility of creating a carbohydrate-based regenerative fuel cell (CRFC) as the primary power source for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for long endurance missions where station keeping is required. A CRFC power system is based on a closed-loop construct where carbohydrates are generated from zooxanthellae, algae that create excess carbohydrates during photosynthesis. The carbohydrates are then fed to a carbohydrate fuel cell where electric power is generated for the UAV’s propulsion, flight control, payload, and accessory systems. The waste products from the fuel cell are used by the zooxanthellae to create more carbohydrates, therefore …
A Static Aeroelastic Analysis Of A Flexible Wing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Nathan A. Pitcher
A Static Aeroelastic Analysis Of A Flexible Wing Mini Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Nathan A. Pitcher
Theses and Dissertations
The static aeroelastic behavior of the Nighthawk mini unmanned aerial vehicle is examined using a combined experimental and computational approach. Three wings are examined. In order of increasing stiffness they are: a flexible wing, a stiff wing, and a fictitious rigid wing with zero deflection. Photogrammetry is used during wind tunnel testing to measure the average deflected shape of the flexible and stiff wings during flight. The independent variables during wind tunnel tests are angle of attack (ranging from −5.1° through 13.4°) and velocity, which is 20 mph, 30 mph, and 40 mph. Roll angle and yaw angle are control …
Real-Time Navigation And Flight Path Generation For Tracking Stop-And-Go Targets With Miniature Air Vehicles, Nate A. Terning
Real-Time Navigation And Flight Path Generation For Tracking Stop-And-Go Targets With Miniature Air Vehicles, Nate A. Terning
Theses and Dissertations
This research effort focuses on using a heuristic approach to determine the optimal flight path required to put an Unmanned Aircraft System’s (UAS) sensor on a moving target in the presence of a constant wind field. This thesis builds on past work using dynamic optimization techniques to calculate minimum time to target. The computationally intensive dynamic optimization routines in their current form take a prohibitive amount of time to calculate and ultimately result in erroneous flight path predictions due to inherent execution time latencies. Therefore an iterative, suboptimal heuristic approach was explored to mitigate excessive calculation times and ultimately yield …