Low cost, high endurance, disposable fixed wing platform

DIY experts,I have a specific application. I need a high endurance disposable platform to make measurements in clouds and storms. Recovery is not important. The UAV would be equipped to transfer data to ground control station in near real time. Once data is obtained, recovery will be attempted. If recovery is not possible due to storm conditions, the UAV will be abondoned. Subsequent mission would be conducted with an identically equipped UAV.Important requirements:1. Cruise speed ~ minimum 50 knots2. Flight time (endurance) at cruise speed ~ 20 hours3. Payload (with full fuel onboard) ~ 3 kg4. Cost ~ less than $5,000 for airframeI know requirements are challenging but each will have to be specified for this project. Thank you all for your feedback!

Replies

张先生（yoo） February 13, 2017 at 1:25am

our UAV motors can be suitable for you to build this platform, we can discuss more about your application, please contact with me paul@crazy-motor.com;

our model 5008 will be suitable for you.

http://www.crazy-motor.com
Al Sanderson February 12, 2017 at 8:29pm

Depending on your electronics package, I think it's perfectly feasible to get several planes out of that budget. Remember, a 60 year old designed 'Ugly Stick' crossed the atlantic (Canada to Ireland if I remember right) not to long ago, using old school Cox & fuel, GPS & google earth..... There are many different ways to power a system. Everyone's become so use to battery power & short flight times, sometimes it's hard to see other options.

Thin flexible solar sheets have come way down in price. Internal compustion doesn't have to mean a 50cc turbo prop. It can also mean a bank of alcohol fueled stirling generators kicking in when ever the solar dips to low.

Using a water tight polypropylene tube to contain all your electronics as the planes core with a solar powered GPS pinger, would make your system recoverable, from anywhere. imprint your email on the side with a reward offer & postage paid to just ship the tube back.

Anyways, just a few ideas.... Got more of my own I'll be posting later.... :)

Al
Anthony Verloop August 3, 2016 at 12:39am

Hi Fabian,

I'm using this antenna tracker:

http://diydrones.com/m/discussion?id=705844%3ATopic%3A1733725
FABIAN VILLEGAS August 1, 2016 at 10:50am

Hi Anthony,

I am Fabian from Peru, I am working in big project about Mugin UAV for long range, I also use RDF 900 for telemetry but i don,t have directional tracking antenna system, please could you tell me how can arrive to have 100 km of communication range?.....What kind of autotracking used?.....thank you for yiur time.

Fabian

Anthony Verloop said:

I would suggest the same. We actually are flying this platform with a 10 liter fuel tank (we made it bigger) and a 50 CC DLE twin cylinder engine, fuel consumption at 100 KM/Hr only 0.5 liter per hour !!! That was with perfect conditions, flying a straight line up and down.

We flew a mapping mission, lots of turns, a bit windy and the consumption went up to a liter per hour. But still quite efficient.

The mugin is cheap, available at FPVflying.com. Your problem will be to keep the total weight below the maximum take off weight. To stay up 20 hours, you need at least 15 liter (about 14Kg) of fuel.

We have been able to keep data transmission with the RFD900 up to 100 Km, using an antenna tracker and directional Yagi antenna's. If you need more range, that will be a challenge to.

If you want more info, you can PM me.
Steven G February 14, 2015 at 7:36pm

With the endurance target, you are probably SOL.That said, some hybrid of Skywalker or Penguin with very efficient Solar cells may get you closer, assuming you can get some sun light! Peeps are ecstatic to get one hour flight time on a FPV plane.
Will Snodgrass February 9, 2015 at 4:31pm

Personally I have been building the FX-61 flying wing (with some custom mods) for people (Farmers, wildlife conservationsist, surveyors) And I will include a hard case with a Surface Pro Tablet for telemetry and loading flight plans along with a 9xr FrSky setup with an 7"monitor mounted on it and a Canon 260 camera in the belly of the plain with a hole cut out for the lens for taking the photos for mapping and I put it all together and sell it for $2500 or so.

I did have one guy who wanted to push the envelop and I upgraded the motor and rigged up an amp on the telemetry with a Omni - Directional antenna and a yagi hooked up to a tracking gimbal for max range along with 4 5000 amp batterys and I believe he got a couple hours of flight time out of it which was pretty good and he took it pretty high. I configured to RTL on low battery only so he could go out of range of the telemetry, FPV, and R/C and still complete the mission. I think that one came out closer to $5K. But with that build I used one of these:

But Ive found including a Microsoft surface Pro tablet is really a pretty good way to go so that the customers have everything they need all ready to go.
Developer

John Arne Birkeland February 9, 2015 at 8:05am

As mentioned before by others, the specification except duration are probably doable.

To give you an idea just how demanding 20h duration is, the standard MQ-9 Reaper (aka. Predator B) using an efficient turboprop motor and a 20m wingspan, is still limited to about 25h flight duration.
- Andrew Rabbitt > John Arne Birkeland February 9, 2015 at 3:48pm
  
  Turboprops aren't that efficient, compared with a small-ish two-stroke engine. They are pretty much above the 0.5 lb/hp.h which a well designed 15kW/cylinder two-stroke engine should be able to better by some margin. Of course, the prop efficiency won't be as good due to scaling effects, but it doesn't have to be a million miles from what the MQ-9 can do.
Gustav Kuhn February 9, 2015 at 7:05am

You left out a few zero's @ no. 4 :-)
Dan McKenna February 8, 2015 at 8:06pm

what is the max altitude?