On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:45:26 -0700, AH wrote:

Soaring as we knew it no more

http://www.economist.com/news/techno...2927-unmanned-
gliders-powered-drones-are-old-hat-latest-robot-aircraft-are-wafted


As I think I said before, autonomous gliders that can find and use
thermals are old hat - it was demonstrated back in 2008. See:

http://zoogz/reference/reference/docs/aloft_etd.pdf
http://goosetech.homelinux.com/soaring/index.php

However, the Economist article contains a little bit too much hype for my
taste. I'd believe unpowered flights while thermals are available, but
you need something like this:

http://zoogz/reference/reference/docs/Zephyr-UAV.pdf

which carries PV cells and electric motors to fly all night unless you're
content to operate only in wave, ridge soar or dynamic soar waves like an
albatross and AFAIK there aren't even rumours about dynamic soaring UAVs.


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martin@ | Martin Gregorie
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