PETER LAFRANCHI / CANBERRA
University of South Australia and Aerospace Sciences build prototype unmanned air vehicles for low-altitude surveys
The University of South Australia and Adelaide-headquartered Aerospace Sciences are developing a tandem-wing unmanned air vehicle (UAV) designed to replace manned aircraft in carrying out low-altitude magnetometer survey work for the mining industry.
Two versions of a prototype UAV have been flying since mid-2001 with trials of a third, pre-production version due to take place later this month. The UAV is being developed at the request of a major but unnamed multinational mining company understood to have interests in Australia and North America.
The air vehicle is intended to operate in partially autonomous flight at altitudes below 400ft (120m) and carry out geological surveys normally performed by fixed- or rotary-wing manned aircraft.
Flight-testing of a system prototype - which is similar in layout to the Alliant Techsystems Outrider air vehicle - first occurred in June 2001. The prototype was 4m long with a wingspan of 2.8m. Maximum take-off weight was 55kg (120lb), including a 12kg payload. It performed five trial flights, but was scrapped in November 2001 in favour of two 60%-scale "trainer" variants used to test avionics and mission systems.
A third version was built in late 2002 and will fly for the first time this month as part of a test programme for a fully integrated avionics and mission system package before resuming development of the tandem-wing design. The production system is intended to be operated by a survey team of two.
University of South Australia research and project manager Michael Harris will detail the tandem-wing mining exploration UAV programme at Flight International's UAV Asia Pacific Conference in Melbourne on 6-7 February.
Source: Flight International
