The Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) of ETH Zurich is proud to present a new cooperating partner for the AtlantikSolar project: The Swiss Aeromodelling Federation (Schweizerischer Modellflugverband, SMV ; Fédération Suisse d’Aéromodélisme, FSAM). In addition to sharing knowledge and experiences through an increased participation within AtlantikSolar events, the cooperation also includes financial contributions.

“Our research on small unmanned aerial vehicles has always been supported by committed model-airplane enthusiasts and would not have been possible without the significant model-airplane activities in Switzerland”, says Prof. Dr. Roland Siegwart of ETH’s Autonomous Systems Lab. Indeed, previous ASL projects such as SkySailor, which performed a solar-powered 27h-flight in 2008, were built in close cooperation with model-airplane enthusiasts. Similarly, AtlantikSolar’s airframe structure was designed and built by a team of structural engineers and long-year model-airplane experts (Dieter Siebenmann and Rainer Lotz).

The AtlantikSolar Team is looking forward towards a fruitful cooperation with SMV through mutual sharing of flight experiences or technological experiences, e.g. with respect to innovative solar-module, battery or autopilot technologies currently under development at ETH Zurich.