P9000

A faculty group at Louisiana Tech University has collaborated to develop new technologies that could transform applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), including public safety, forestry, and oil and gas exploration.

The team intends to devise higher endurance UAVs with increased flight times and payload capacities than existing UAVs.

These vehicles are said to allow researchers to capture data across larger geographic areas, and conduct multiple trials simultaneously.

Louisiana Tech School of Forestry geographic information systems (GIS) instructor Wesley Palmer said: "The majority of the commercial off-the-shelf UAVs that are available have limited flight times of less than 25 minutes and limited payload capabilities.

"We wanted to develop a UAV platform that could fly for a longer period of time, carrying a mid-sized payload."

"We wanted to develop a UAV platform that could fly for a longer period of time, carrying a mid-sized payload."

Researchers are currently working on a customisable autonomous UAV (P9000) that can fly for up to an hour, depending on payload.

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The GPS enabled-vehicle is designed for use various geospatial mapping applications with extended flight times. It is built using a carbon and aluminium frame.

"For the P9000, we utilised an open source flight controller, which will allow for custom programming to be executed on the UAV which can expand performance and functionality," Palmer added.

"We used efficient motors and propellers to minimise power consumption."

The team plans to test cameras and sensors on the P9000 UAV.

Image: P9000 customisable UAV. Photo: courtesy of Louisiana Tech University.