Opening the Skies to Urban Air Mobility

Vehicle Capabilities

Propulsion

Cruise Speed — 55 KTAS Minimum Speed — 0 KTAS in Hover

Electric Motor — 25 min. Endurance Gasoline Motor — 4.75 hr. Endurance Serial Hybrid Motor — 3 hr. Endurance

Autorotation — Capable Lift Capacity — 115 lbs.

Electronics

Structure

Purpose-built Circuit Boards High Fidelity DGPS and INS Plug-and-play Flight Control

9.6 ft. Wingspan Carbon Fiber Airframe

Pre-pandemic image. Masks and distancing are now in place.

and autonomy into aircraft conceptual design. While it was our desire to rewrite the books on aircraft design, it was clear we had more work to do on the individual attributes of the enabling technology. We invested in the autonomy of future aircraft with sights set on pilotless aircraft. To that end, we built an unmanned twin- engine tail sitter vehicle that takes off vertically and transitions to fixed-wing flight. The aircraft’s controls were developed via iterative parameter identification; the vehicle essentially learned to fly. A step to achieving full autonomy is simplified vehicle operation (SVO). For SVO, we relied on Flight Level Engineering, a member of the Embry-Riddle Research Park. Flight Level has a strong track record of research on simplified manned aircraft controls using a variable stability airplane that can be reconfigured to mimic the handling qualities of any airplane with operator’s imposed control law. Read more about this area of research on page 21.

Investing in Autonomy Understanding electric motors and

controllers is not the only technology that is required. Understanding the top-level design space is of greatest importance. The design space needed to fold distributed electric propulsion, quiet rotors, lower emissions,

A student adjusts a prop rotor on an electrically powered technology demonstrator, which uses novel control algorithms and propeller mechanisms to transition between hover and normal winged flight.

Pre-pandemic image. Masks and distancing are now in place.

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