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Project HERCARA: High Endurance Relocatable Crewless Aircraft on Reconnaissance Aerostat
Journal
AIAA AVIATION 2022 Forum
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Author(s)
Suvarna, Sohan
Shukla, Dhwanil
Pant, Rajkumar S.
Abstract
Electric unmanned aerial vehicles consume a significant portion of their stored propulsion energy in gaining altitude. The analysis of shortfall in cruise range as a function of climb altitude confirmed that, if the energy required for climbing is conserved, then cruise range of the UAV would improve significantly. In this paper, we present a conceptual design of a High Endurance Relocatable Crewless Aircraft on Reconnaissance Aerostat. This novel system would enable electric UAVs to operate continuously from an aerostat deployed at the cruising altitude of the UAVs. The three subsystems of HERCARA-the aircraft carrier (aerostat), aircraft and the ground station are also discussed.