The NederDrone: A hybrid lift, hybrid energy hydrogen UAV

Many Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) applications require vertical take-off and landing and very long-range capabilities. Fixed-wing aircraft need long runways to land, and electric energy is still a bottleneck for helicopters, which are not range efficient. In this paper, we introduce the NederDrone, a hybrid lift, hybrid energy hydrogen-powered...

DelftaCopter Propulsion Optimization from Hover to Fast Forward Flight usingWindtunnel Measurements

Enlarging the flight envelope of aircraft has been a goal since the beginning of aviation. But requirements to fly very fast and to hover are conflicting. During the design of the DelftaCopter, a tail-sitter hybrid UAV with a single large rotor for lift in hover and propulsion in forward flight, the design of the rotor needs to properly balance...

Design, control, and visual navigation of the DelftaCopter VTOL tail-sitter UAV

To participate in the Outback Medical Express UAV Challenge 2016, a vehicle was designed and tested that can autonomously hover precisely, takeoff and land vertically, fly fast forward efficiently, and use computer vision to locate a person and a suitable landing location. The vehicle is a novel hybrid tail‐sitter combining a delta‐shaped...