Performing the first fully solar-powered and autonomous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean with an aircraft is a tremendous and intriguing endeavor. In the last months, the team has made significant progress towards achieving that goal, however, some challenges remain. Continue reading
Category Archives: General
Towards autonomous flight
To allow ultra-long endurance waypoint-following flights such as those over the Atlantic, the AtlantikSolar UAV has to be capable of (control-wise) fully autonomous flight. To achieve this goal, we’ve been using smaller test-planes to test our autopilot hardware and flight capabilities in the last months. A first fully autonomous waypoint-navigation flight was achieved with a test plane in the beginning of January. The next step will now include the application and testing of the same control hardware and software to the AtlantikSolar UAV.
The video below shows the aforementioned test plane (Multiplex EasyGlider) with the integrated Pixhawk PX4 and the Autopilot, both developed at ETH Zurich. Both of these components are also integrated in the AtlantikSolar prototype. The video was recorded on February 3rd for a demonstration within the European ICARUS project.
Prototype revision #2 has arrived
Gallery
This gallery contains 3 photos.
The new version of the AtlantikSolar prototype (revision #2) has arrived at ETH Zurich! Compared to the first revision, the fuselage has been improved aerodynamically and structurally, mostly to facilitate integration of the autopilot & communication system hardware. In addition, … Continue reading
Project brochure available!
The AtlantikSolar project brochure is now available for download. It contains a wealth of background information about the project and the team. Contact us to receive your personal printed version of the brochure or to get additional information and how to participate. Continue reading
Test Flight #001 successful!
Atlantik-Solar prototype test flight #001, which was performed on November 14th 2012 at Pfäffikon, CH, has been completed successfully! The test was performed to determine the general aerodynamic and structural characteristics of the airplane, e.g. the aerodynamic stability as well as the behaviour during take-off and landing. The behaviour of the aircraft was excellent throughout the whole test, with smooth gliding properties and good controllability! In this first test flight, the aircraft was steered via manual RC-control for the whole flight duration.
Test flight #001 marks a significant milestone in the project. Its successful completion verifies the overall aircraft design and enables us to shift the team’s focus on the design of the autonomous flight system and the solar-electric power system. In addition, preparations for the small-series production of the Atlantic-crossing aircrafts will be started soon.
Welcome!
Welcome to the AtlantikSolar blog!
Atlantik-Solar is a novel kind of Solar-UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with the goal to demonstrate the very first fully solar powered and autonomous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in summer 2014. Due to the ultra long flight endurance of Solar-UAVs demonstrated during the atlantic crossing, future applications lie in search and rescue support, meteorological observations or surveillance operations. The Atlantik-Solar UAV is developed by the Autonomous Systems Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) in cooperation with industry partners.
In the upcoming months, we will use this blog to keep you updated about major steps towards the Atlantic crossing in Summer 2014.This will include insights into the development and production of our UAVs as well as results of the flight test programme. Some technical background information on solar-powered autonomously flying aerial vehicles (or SUAV for short) will be added to the about section soon.
Best,
The Atlantik-Solar Team