Atlantic Solar

Atlantic Solar

The AtlantikSolar project aimed to develop a small (5.6m) hand-launchable fixed-wing Uncrewed Aerial Vehicle that can stay airborne for up to 10 days continuously by employing solar-electric propulsion techniques and advanced flight control and navigation technology. This ultra-long flight endurance is of prime interest in large-scale search and rescue (SaR) support, wildfire detection, or meteorological surveys above otherwise inaccessible oceans. AtlantikSolar was already used within European SaR research projects ICARUS and SHERPA, where it provided live-imagery to SaR first response teams on the ground to improve rescue-mission planning. The final goal of the project is to demonstrate multi-day flight in sub-optimal conditions and with payloads. The project achieved the world record for a long endurance flight for a less-than-50kg aircraft by flying for 81 hours straight. The aircraft, its avionics, and related algorithms were developed at ETH Zurich’s Autonomous Systems Lab in cooperation with multiple partners from industry, academia, and hobbyist communities worldwide.

Share this speaker
  • Organization
    ETH Zurich - Autonomous Systems Lab
  • Profession
    Aerial vehicle with ultra-long flight endurance

Are you sure you want to remove this speaker?