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2021-08-01

UAVOS and Stratodynamics .. See Success in Stratospheric Flights

UAVOS Inc. and Stratodynamics Inc. have recently performed a series of successful stratospheric flights with the balloon launched HiDRON, an autonomous aircraft, at Spaceport America, New Mexico, U.S.

The mission objectives were to advance new systems for forward sensing turbulence detection onboard aircraft at near-space and commercial flight altitudes. The early June campaign was supported by the NASA Flight Opportunities Programme to advance turbulence detection sensors developed by the University of Kentucky (UKY) and NASA’s Langley Research Center. The results will cross validate data from multiple probes with flight data from the HiDRON.

During the campaign, the HiDRON glider was released from the balloon at an altitude of 82,000 ft. (25 km) on the first two launches, and at 98,000 ft. (30 km) on the final launch and was gliding successfully at 92,000 ft (28 km). It was released from the balloon in zero-gravity conditions and accelerated rapidly, approaching 300 mph ground speed (480 kph) in the first 15 seconds of flight. The HiDRON then glided in a controlled flight path back toward Spaceport America’s runway for approximately 4.5 hours while recording flight and payload data.

UAVOS Co. is a leading developer of innovative solutions for unmanned air, ground and marine applications and specialises in autopilots and UAV accessories. The UAVOS designed avionics system demonstrated stable performance in extreme temperatures from -85°F (-65°C) to +95°F (+30 °C) as well as a breakthrough in autonomous control during the critical ‘pull-out phase’ following balloon release. UAVOS’ avionics system assists the HiDRON glider in ensuring safe Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flight profiles throughout the various phases of lift-off, ascent and landing.

During the mission, UAVOS’ autopilot took measurements and recorded navigation data on a flight recorder with a frequency of up to 400 Hz. UAVOS’ autopilot sensors (on-board acceleration sensors, angular velocity sensors, GNSS, magnetometer, air data sensors, temperature sensors) allowed it to record wind velocity, direction, magnitude, and low-frequency sound waves.

“For example, the air fluctuations with a frequency of 1 Hz and a very small amplitude (0.1 m/s²) at an altitude of 23 km were detected by our specialists while analysing data from a flight recorder,” explained UAVOS lead autopilot developer and CEO, Aliaksei Stratsilatau. “The high-altitude aerodynamics data is proving invaluable for processing payload data as well as for analysing atmospheric phenomena in the stratosphere in general.”

Examining the Data

The flight campaign participants included HiDRON avionics system developer, UAVOS, researchers from the UKY and NASA’s Langley Research Centre, HiDRON inventor and flight services provider, Stratodynamics Inc., as well as scientists from the Physical Sciences Lab at New Mexico State University’s Physical Sciences Lab who assisted with balloon launch logistics. This multi-member collaboration converged at Spaceport America to combine the novel, high-altitude aerial platform with multi-hole wind probe and infrasonic microphone sensors to advance forward detection of turbulence systems.

UKY researchers will spend the next several months analysing the sensor data to identify turbulent events and their proximity to the airborne sensors.

Dr Sean Bailey of the University of Kentucky added, “The HiDRON aircraft was an ideal platform for these investigations. Its controlled descent provided us with many hours of data and increased our ability to observe randomly occurring events. We look forward to examining the data more closely to see what we can learn about turbulence in the atmosphere.”

“This mission represents a major milestone for Stratodynamics in achieving controlled, autonomous flight at record-setting altitudes and with aircraft’s aerodynamically efficient airframe capable of utilising available natural energy. The HiDRON also performs as an extremely sensitive instrument that can detect turbulence and correlate data collected from payload sensors. This campaign will contribute to Stratodynamics’ turbulence detection systems currently in development for multiple aviation-based applications,” said Gary Pundsack, CEO Stratodynamics.

Scott McLaughlin, Executive Director of Spaceport America, noted: “This truly is exciting science and technology. It combines UAV’s, balloons, and infrasonics to measure turbulence in the atmosphere in a way no one else has done. We are very happy to have had their team testing at Spaceport America.”

While UAVOS’ lead autopilot developer and CEO Aliaksei Stratsilatau, concluded: “The HiDRON successfully completed all of the missions proving that UAVOS’ scalable, fully integrated avionics system, as well as flight-proven hardware continue to ensure HiDRON is at the forefront of stratospheric missions for the long-term.

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