DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A team of research professors in the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus have been chosen by NASA to receive a $100,000 grant to develop a futuristic concept using unmanned aircraft to utilize wind and solar power 50,000 to 60,000 feet above the Earth that someday might augment cell towers and orbital satellites.
Dr. William Engblom, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, and his team at Embry-Riddle received the award, chosen from hundreds of proposals, to develop the Dual-Aircraft Platform (DAP)—essentially, two gliders connected by an ultra-strong thin cable. The DAP is likened to a kite-surf setup, with one aircraft acting as the sail, and the other as the board. The DAPs could stay stationary in the stratosphere for years, running off power from the sun and the wind.
NASA selected 15 proposals for study under Phase I of NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, a program that aims to turn science fiction into science fact through the development of pioneering technologies. Such transformational technology holds the promise of accelerating NASA’s progress toward its goals of exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, and missions to an asteroid and Mars. If the basic feasibility studies are successful, the Embry-Riddle scientists can apply for a Phase II award valued up to $500,000 for two additional years of concept development.
The Embry-Riddle research team includes Dr. Engblom, Dr. Hever Moncayo, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering, and Dr. William Barott, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. Joining the team to explore the kite-surfing concept will be Ryan Decker from NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center and Norm Princen with Boeing Research and Technology. Kushan Patel, a recent graduate in Aerospace Engineering, now with Boeing, and Esteban Sanchez, a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering, are also supporting the effort.
“Aircraft platforms that could stay stationary in the stratosphere for years, referred to as atmospheric satellites, represent a long-standing, grand challenge to the aeronautics community, and have enormous potential for societal and economic impact,” said Dr. Engblom. “Such platforms would diversify and expand observational capabilities—for example, NASA’s earth science missions—and communications bandwidth and availability in underserved remote areas of the United States, at a fraction of the cost of orbital satellite networks. Constellations of such platforms could be integrated into the national airspace system to facilitate inter-aircraft communications or to support aircraft navigation and surveillance.”
The primary objective of the Phase I work is to directly compare the performance of a conventional solar aircraft with the DAP for a three-month mission as a communications relay, remaining within 150 miles of Orlando, Fla., at an altitude of 50,000 to 60,000 feet, using physics-based flight dynamics simulations.
About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, is a nonprofit, independent institution offering more than 75 baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts & Sciences, Aviation, Business, Engineering and Security & Intelligence. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., through the Worldwide Campus with more than 125 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and through online programs. The University is a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@EmbryRiddle) and facebook.com/EmbryRiddleUniversity, and find expert videos at YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv.
