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

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3.4 PayloadThe payload is the carrying capacity of an aircraft, for example cameras, weapons, orpeople. On Zephyr the payload is a camera which is used for aerial observation of theearth. The camera onboard the aircraft is a commercial off the shelf (COTS) system,meaning that it has been manufactured outside of QinetiQ and it is commerciallyavailable for anyone to use. It has been manufactured by Cloud Cap Technology Inc,and one of the mean reasons Zephyr is using it is because it lightweight (Appendix 2).It measures 12.7cm x 11.2cm x 17.8cm and weighs only 900 grams [9]. Zephyr uses acamera in order to show potential customers what is achievable with a cameraonboard Zephyr, but they are free to use any camera they like as long as it weighs lessthan 2kg and is compatible with the electronics.This camera had not been used or tested so it was important to assess how it worked,if it was easy to use and if it is compatible with Zephyr.The camera has its own software and user interface in order to control the camera.First it had to be checked that there was sufficient bandwidth between the inbuiltcamera software and the aircraft. The bandwidth available between the GCS and theaircraft is only 7 frames a second, but it was found that the camera transmitted at arate of 2 frames a second meaning there was more than sufficient bandwidthavailable.42
Once I found that there was sufficient bandwidth and thus the camera (and itsinterface) could be used with Zephyr, I examined the software to find the camera’scapability. I found that in addition to the standard functions of zooming, rotating andfocusing, the camera could also track moving objects and follow their movementsalong the ground. The camera could also stay aligned with a particular point ofinterest on the ground if the object that is to be monitored is stationary. It could alsomove and focus on any particular object in its view, as well stream live video of whatit is viewing. It can stabilise itself in case Zephyr goes through any turbulence and bycounteracting this movement it can produce a non smeared picture.These are all advantages that Zephyr has over a satellite, including the fact that asatellite can only observe the ground when it falls under its orbit whereas Zephyr canobserve any area for any length of time and track any moving object.3.4.1 GPS SignalThe other main function of the software is that if the camera has a GPS signal thesoftware can use this to plot the camera’s position on a map. This means that whilethe camera streams live video of the earth below, the map shows the place names ofwhat the camera is seeing. In order for this to be tested to see how accurately itworked, a GPS antenna had to be connected to the camera.In order for a GPS antenna to work properly, it should be grounded/earthed. GPStravels at a speed of 1GHz, so by using the speed of light it is possible to calculate thewavelength:43
Page 1 and 2: Zephyr:A High Altitude Long Enduran
Page 3 and 4: AcknowledgementsI’d like to thank
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 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
Page 56 and 57: Chapter 4Angle of Attack Experiment
Page 58 and 59: The sensor was powered using an ext
Page 60 and 61: It has to be noted however, that on
Page 62 and 63: experience the atmospheric conditio
Page 65 and 66: 5.2.1 Aerial PhotographyThe most co
Page 67 and 68: meaning that these cameras can be u
Page 69 and 70: Infoterra have a project called Far
Page 71 and 72: it out for long endurance missions.
Page 73 and 74: Figure 18. QinetiQ’s Zephyr5.4 Co
Page 75 and 76: where it is needed rather than havi
Page 77 and 78: Appendix 3Schematic diagram of the
Page 79 and 80: Appendix 5The results table for the
Page 81 and 82: BibliographyQinetiQ Documents[1] St
Page 83: [19] Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004.

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