26th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences
including the 8th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference
14 - 19 September 2008, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Paper ICAS2008-1.5 ST1:

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF ENERGY EXTRACTION FROM ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE

C. K. Patel, I. M. Kroo*
Acuity Technologies Inc., USA; *Stanford Univ., USA

Keywords: Atmospheric turbulence, Gust soaring, Energy extraction, Control law design

Control laws to improve the performance of small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by extracting energy from atmospheric turbulence, as observed in birds, are described. Optimal control laws are designed for flight in sinusoidal and random gusts. Flight test results are presented to validate the simulations and demonstrate the concept.

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