A British drone company is raising the bar among industry infrastructure UAVs with the launch of its flagship product, the Vertical Take-Off and Landing [VTOL] Flying Wing.
Based at the at the University of Reading, VTOL Technologies Ltd stated in a recent press release that a test-market version of the Flying Wing is capable of longer hours of light, autonomous flight with a 100 kilometer range. Expected to take off in the industrial market by 2016, the Flying Wing will be targeted towards “fixed linear asset owners” including oil and gas companies, utilities, agricultural groups, railway and waterway systems.
“The challenge for the industry up to now has been the availability of small, lightweight, Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems that have the necessary endurance, maneuverability and safety capabilities to be able to successfully inspect electricity power-lines and gas pipelines over long distances,” a company spokesperson stated in a media statement.
Capable of speeds in excess of 65 knots, the Flying Wing is a quadcopter/fixed-wing hybrid boasting rotors that can shift from horizontal to vertical as needed, allowing it to decelerate from cruise to hover mode in three seconds. VTOL adds that the Flying Wing boasts more than two-and-a-half times the endurance of other UAV systems.
VTOL Flying Wing from Think Allowed on Vimeo.
The Flying Wing offers “hot-swappable” payload capability for a variety of cameras or sensors useful for a variety of industrial inspection applications. The model’s advanced aerofoil provides high lift at low speeds as well as low drag at high speeds. Its four ducted-fan rotors can rotate as pairs through 110 degrees from the horizontal through to the vertical. Each propulsion unit is individually controllable.
“Such a degree of control authority creates a highly maneuverable aerial platform that can hover into wind — dramatically reducing hover power consumption — as well as being able to take off vertically from a moving ground based vehicle or maritime platform,” a company spokesperson pointed out.
In addition to a streamlined airframe, the VTOL Flying Wing includes a Global Navigation Satellite System, short-to-medium range, miniaturized collision avoidance systems and “persistent Beyond Visual Line Of Sight [BVLOS] communications technologies.”
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