|
The "Black Widow" which was tested as part of
DARPA's MAV
program, was a small fixed wing vehicle, designed in a circular
platform. Its weight was only 50 gr. half of which amounted tothe weight
of the primary batteries. The Black Widow was powered by an
electric motor that accelerated it to a maximum flight speed of 20
m/sec. In few years, the Black Widow program progressed from a
vehicle that flew for only 2 minutes with no payload to a vehicle
that could fly 30 minutes, to an altitude of 769 ft, and transmit
color video to a base station 1.8 km away. The evolutionary Black
Widow platform equipped with an increased wing surface area and
wing loading (still within the 15 cm limitation) demonstrated
maximum flight speeds of 40 miles per hour. Further improvements
in propeller efficiency increased to a dramatic 82%; and 22
minutes in flight duration, using a "heads down" flight control
through an on-board color video camera. The Black Widow airframe
and propulsion system ultimately evolved to reach 30 minutes
endurance, and flight range of 17 kilometers at a cruising airspeeds
between 38 to 53 km/h. The control system was capable of "autohold"
for heading, altitude and airspeed.
AeroVironment
developed a light weight a transportable, Universal Ground Control
Unit for the Black Widow, comprising of a control unit with the
size of a laptop computer and an antenna. All the relevant data is
superimposed on the colored daylight readable video image, as it
is down-linked from the vehicle. Information includes the magnetic
heading, altitude, airspeed and the health of the MAV. The widow
is launched automatically from an expendable cassette pneumatic
launcher, about the size of a cigar box.
To extend the communications range of the system,
the Widow is supported by an aerial relay installed on another MAV
– the Pointer, which will fly
higher to accomplish a non-line-of-sight relay system for video
transmissions. In this configuration, the Black Widow/ Pointer
team can support operational deployment at urban or rugged and
mountainous terrain, at ranges of up to 20km.
|
