The US Army's European research office has awarded Peterborough, UK-based Geoff's Flying Saucer (GFS) Projects an eight-month contract to demonstrate Coanda-effect flight.
GFS Projects has already flown indoors a circular, 0.91m (3ft)-diameter, 5.45kg (12lb) vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle, the GFS-7 (Flight International, 7-13 February 2006). The UAV uses the Coanda effect to generate lift from airflow over a curved surface.
The prototype uses batteries and an electric motor, and has little endurance, but future development will include a diesel engine for long-duration flights.
The US Army contract requires that the VTOL UAV demonstrates hovering outdoors at a waypoint. "We have flown [the latest test vehicle] into 15kt [27.7km/h] winds. Above [8kt] we have found a big increase in drag on the canopy. We are solving the problem bit by bit," says technical director Geoff Hatton, the UAV's inventor and a former hovercraft engineer.
Hatton says the latest GFS-13 design has the same mass as the GFS-7, but has a 5min endurance with improved batteries and motors. The UAV is being proposed for military convoy protection and a wide range of surveillance roles, while civilian applications include search and rescue, airborne inspection and environmental monitoring.
US and UK defence research officials visited GFS Projects early in 2006 when the company was testing its GFS-7 remote-controlled, battery-powered test vehicle, which was made of plywood and propelled by a car radiator fan, with a 3min endurance.
Source: Flight International
