Zephyr: A High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Air Vehicle ...

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AbstractZephyr is a lightweight UAV designed to fly at altitudes up to 70,000ft for months ata time, powered using solar panels and rechargeable batteries. In 2008 the aircraftflew for over 80hours, nearly trebling the current record for the flight duration of anunmanned air vehicle. It has gone through several stages in development an\dundergone acceptance testing at appropriate stages in the system development. Aftereach trial to monitor its performance, Zephyr has been amended and developedfurther, and should be completed by 2010.The current aircraft weighs less than 30kg, has a wingspan of 18m and is handlaunched. In order to fly using solar power it must be lightweight to reduce powerrequirements needed to keep the aircraft in the sky. The structure is made of carbonfibre as this is a light and strong material. Every component on board the aircraft isessential to enable flight and is often custom manufactured to ensure it is aslightweight as possible.This report covers the history and background of Zephyr, the technical aspects thatenable Zephyr to fly, the tasks that I undertook during my year, who Zephyr’scompetitors are and what can be done to ensure Zephyr has a successful future bothtechnically and commercially.ii
AcknowledgementsI’d like to thank the entire Zephyr team within QinetiQ, Farnborough for their helpand support throughout the year, with special thanks to my supervisors Mr DuncanFortune and Dr Daren Lock. I would also like to thank Professor Ben Murdin andProfessor Paddy Regan from the University of Surrey for making the placementpossible and for their continued support during the year.iii
Page 1: Zephyr:A High Altitude Long Enduran
Page 5 and 6: ContentsChapter 1 - Introduction an
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 1Introduction and Backgroun
Page 9 and 10: 1.1 History of ZephyrZephyr is a li
Page 11 and 12: The Zephyr 5 project continued with
Page 13 and 14: airframe, with the main aim to impr
Page 15 and 16: 1.2 Environmental IssuesDuring the
Page 17 and 18: order to function, they may not thu
Page 19 and 20: 1.2.3 Cosmic RaysCosmic rays are en
Page 21 and 22: wind speeds. This is to ensure that
Page 23 and 24: crystalline silicon cells and can b
Page 25 and 26: which are then insulated. In order
Page 27 and 28: motion of the aircraft including ro
Page 29 and 30: Within the portable cabins the crew
Page 31 and 32: Simple payloads instructions withou
Page 33 and 34: In the event that the wing does not
Page 35 and 36: Graph 4 shows radiosonde density da
Page 37 and 38: 3.2 NIOSH Lifting EquationThe hand
Page 39 and 40: Variable Description MultiplierD (c
Page 41 and 42: Using the given values, the corresp
Page 43 and 44: 3.3 Airspeed SensorThe current airs
Page 45: 12VSensorPCBZenerDiodeFigure 8. Dia
Page 48 and 49: 3.4 PayloadThe payload is the carry
Page 50 and 51: where λ is the wavelength, c is th
Page 52 and 53:
3.5 Angle of Attack SensorThe angle
Page 54 and 55:
The magnetic sensor seemed much mor
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Chapter 4Angle of Attack Experiment
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The sensor was powered using an ext
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It has to be noted however, that on
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experience the atmospheric conditio
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5.2.1 Aerial PhotographyThe most co
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meaning that these cameras can be u
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Infoterra have a project called Far
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it out for long endurance missions.
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Figure 18. QinetiQ’s Zephyr5.4 Co
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where it is needed rather than havi
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Appendix 3Schematic diagram of the
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Appendix 5The results table for the
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BibliographyQinetiQ Documents[1] St
Page 83:
[19] Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004.
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