Drone operations at excessive altitudes and consequential restricted by harsh climate situations have at all times confronted numerous dangers and challenges. Excessive altitude is generally linked to mountainous terrain, which contributes to thought of further challenges.
Aerial missions in mountainous terrain maintain a large variety of particular options and limitations. Flights over mountainous areas are at all times unpredictable because of the present skinny air and speedy modifications in climate situations – sudden storms and very chilly climate are frequent even in the summertime season.
The unmanned aerial car (UAV) operators require meticulous preparation when it comes to gear and operation, it might even require the operators to acclimatize and enhance liquid consumption in the course of the time spent within the mountains, and it’s simple to develop into disorientated if their well being situation shouldn’t be monitored.
From an gear perspective, the most typical challenges lie in unspecified or incorrect terrain maps which can trigger the drone to crash; restricted altitude configurations could result in poor high quality information and even the lack of the drone; magnetometer sensor malfunction in zones of magnetic anomalies and should result in the lack of the drone management and even lack of the plane in itself.
The FIXAR 007 unmanned aerial answer already has confirmed its operational capabilities at Elbrus, finishing up an aerial pictures mission and reaching an altitude of 4 000 m (13 123 ft). The drone’s sturdy design and proprietary Autopilot together with mission planning software program xGroundControl permits it to make use of the UAV for missions at difficult areas and climate, due to this fact FIXAR 007 was chosen for the duty requiring operation altitude vary 5 000 m (16 404 ft) as much as 6 000 m (19 685 ft) above sea degree.
MISSION DESCRIPTION
The one-day mission was carried out in September 2022. The climate situations had been consistently altering and different thought the day, with temperatures starting from -20 to five°C. The whole mission phases had been carried out in a rarefied environment. The FIXAR 007 configured with the gimbal video digicam was used for this mission.
In mountains take-off and touchdown areas are restricted, due to this fact vertical take-off and touchdown (VTOL) is essentially the most appropriate drone design configuration for use in these areas. The mission launch and drone take-off befell at an altitude of 5 300 m (17 388 ft) and continued the flight route via the valley.
The objective of the mission was to execute a secure flight at a difficult excessive altitude with antagonistic climate situations, and concurrently acquire affirmation for high quality telemetry information assortment below these situations.
The 19.8 km (12.5 mi) mission was carried out with an ascent to an altitude of 6 115 m (20 062 ft) above sea degree and an extra descent and touchdown beneath the purpose of the preliminary take-off location. At a low altitude above floor degree, the terrain envelope was 100-150 m (328-492 ft). In the course of the flight, the touring velocity was maintained secure at velocity of 72 km/h (45 mph).
CONCLUSION
The FIXAR 007 confirmed strong and secure efficiency on the high-altitude missions. FIXAR 007 at the moment is the one industrial fixed-wing drone, which has flown a BVLOS mission autonomously with terrain envelope on the altitude 5 300 (17 388 ft) – 6 115 m (20 062 ft) ASL within the mountains with out particular gear.
FLIGHT MISSION OVERVIEW
AIRCRAFT MODEL | FIXAR 007 |
AIRCRAFT TYPE | Mounted-wing eVTOL |
DURATION OF FLIGHT | 18 min |
MISSION MAXIMUM ALTITUDE | 6 115 m (20 062 ft) |
MISSION TAKE-OFF ALTITUDE | 5 300 m (17 388 ft) |
DISTANCE COVERED | 19.8 km (12.5 mi) |
MISSION AVERAGE FLIGHT SPEED | 72 km/h (45 mph) |
PAYLOAD | Gimbal Video Digital camera |
PAYLOAD WEIGHT | 600 g (1.32 lbs) |