Congratulations to all at ALTIUAS an RPA made in Africa, for Africa and the rest of the world. This would meet the delivery drone targets of many emerging projects. Instead of delivering things swap out the payload for cameras and be able to survey large areas in rough terrain.
"The ALTI Transition is a radically new VTOL unmanned aerial aircraft, developed from the ground up as an advanced fixed wing system with the ability to take-off and land vertically, anywhere. A powerful electric VTOL system allows the Transition to take-off and land in confined spaces and once at altitude, a 20cc four stroke petrol motor keeps the system airborne for up to 6 hours with support for a wide range of payloads and sensors that can quickly be swapped out and setup. Fully featured autonomous PX4 based open and proprietary software and hardware avionics system with easy to use ground control systems to suite.
Here at Alti we believe vertical take-off and landing is now an essential part to operating small unmanned systems effectively and the ability to operate a fixed wing aircraft from confined areas is invaluable and a huge advantage over bulky traditional systems. Operating costs and staff requirements are reduced significantly allowing more flexibility and a broader mission scope.
DOUBLE HYBRID
Multi-rotor and fixed wing, electric and fuel, the Transition is a double-hybrid aircraft unlike anything else available. With a small footprint and no need whatsoever for launch or recovery equipment, it really is the future of small unmanned systems, making operating far more versatile and cost effective.
PURE VTOL
With no need for a take-off run, it's a pure VTOL aircraft, able to vertically ascend to altitude, where it transitions into forward wing-bound flight for the duration of the mission. A smooth and quick transition back to hover with a final descent for a pin point landing.
ENDURANCE
Extend your mission parameters with endurance of up to 6 hours. The ultra-light weight Carbon Kevlar fuselage made with top quality composites used by the likes of Ferrari, Airbus and BMW. It's wind tunnel tested featuring an advanced design with dihedral, washout, winglets and more. The Transition also has duel elevators for redundant control.
AFFORDABILITY
With far lower operating costs as well as no need for expensive launch and recovery hardware and less staffing, the ALTI Transition also prices lower than any comparable system available.
TRANSITION SPECIFICATIONS
Wingspan: 2760mm
Length: 2300mm
Height: 490mm
MTOW 12kg
Max Payload Weight: 1kg
VTOL Propeller Size: 18"
Fuel Pusher Propeller Size: 15-16"
Electric VTOL Endurance: <10 min
Fuel Fixed Wing Endurance <6 Hours
The wings and rear tail-boom are removable, without the need for tools and reduce the size significantly for rapid deployment and transport. The Transition offers incredible fixed wing endurance with true VTOL capability as well as great hover times pending on the AUW, setup, payloads and environmental factors."
Comments
I fly 18x5.5 props on my OctaQuad plane and it has no problems in high wind. Here is a landing in a 22 knot wind:
note that the wind was from behind (landing downwind) so it automatically turns into the wind as soon as it starts the landing approach
John, I'm not to worried about the inertia of a 18" prop in relation to the weight and drag of the aircraft. I'm experimenting with a multicopter with 12 30" props and I'm having little issue with inertia. Even with payloads up to 80kg's. I do agree that while hovering it's best the face the wind.
I predict this thing will have stability issues in hover, especially if there is any wind. The wing and tail design looks very draggy and 18" props have to much inertia to allow rapid corrections. At best it will have to make sure it always hovers facing the wind.
Well done !
Considering the huge access problems here in Africa, having such a cruise capacity is very interesting.
Now waiting for the price tag...
I don't think it's possible for the 20cc engine to produce enough power to actually lift the vehicle. But I would think a generator could be set up to charge the lift batteries over time.
Looks like it takes about 2500W for the plane to hover? That motor might produce a maximum of 1500W, on a good day, maybe even just 1000W. And some of that is required just to fly. So say you ran a 100W generator, you could get 1 minute of lift power recharge for every 30 minutes of flight. Just some rough figures.
Is ALTI considering linking the battery and I.C.E. in some sort of hybrid version to extend hover performance? With a lot of people trying it in multi rotors I was wondering if they thought this could be feasible for a fixed wing or maybe there are disadvantages we don't know about.
Hi Duran
Remember me....I brought one of your first Quads! Duran congrats on this Plane....please forward me more info and prices to info@aerialpix.co.za.
Kind Regards
Michael
Mooi manne, looks absolutely great.
Please forward me a product brochure with an indication of pricing - antoniek at fraseralexander dot co dot za
Have you had any interaction with the CAA with regard to registering the airframe?
Impressive:)
Hi Duran
Thanks for the update. 2760mm sounds and looks better, but I was hoping you had abandoned conventional flight theory(!), of the requirement to have a low stall speed on the wings to facilitate landing/takeoff because you have the "unlimited" runway of quad hover at your disposal. I think flight range and performance will improve considerably if designed that way. Typically, for imagery and not surveillance purposes, range is more important that endurance, and speed means more coverage per day. Wind penetration and flight stability tend to go up with velocity as well, provided that imaging can keep up. There is of course value in having two methods of landing, but I'd prefer range and speed! ;-)
BTW how much yaw authority does your setup have and do you have weathervaning to point the bird into the wind in hover? Also although I commend having redundant control surfaces, I'm wondering if they are in fact triple redundant because the quad motors can also assist in attitude control?
Regards JB
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