Small-scale, battery-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) suffer from short mission times before they must land for manual refueling, making the UAVs not truly autonomous for extended periods of time. This solution aims to be an innovative approach to a more refined iteration of previously proposed refueling solutions, while adding the novel functionality of being universal for many UAVs that are battery powered and can perform vertical takeoff and landing. The proposed design is a base station that positions the landed UAV to a known orientation, then exchanges and charges the UAV’s battery. This solution allows for persistent flight of the UAV by maximizing its in-air duty cycle.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Short, Raymond P
• Pizzimenti, Janine S
• Cochran, Nigel B

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-031212-181154

Advisor

• Michalson, William R.
• Stafford, Kenneth A.

Year

• 2012

Center

• MIT Lincoln Laboratory-Lexington, Massachusetts Project Center - MQP

Sponsor

• MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Date created

• 2012-03-12

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Computer Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Electrical & Computer Engineering
• Robotics Engineering

Rights statement

• In Copyright