Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Essentially, Drone is a flying robot. The aircraft may be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with GPS. The utility of the drones are familiar at this age and these unmanned aircrafts are being used for almost everything like package delivery, to search, rescue etc.
We are in receipt of second-hand to the condensation UAV, short for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. If existing experiments work, “personal passenger drones” may develop a whole new category; a tiny rotor-driven aircraft that can be controlled by the passenger, or directed from another person on the ground. Electrically-powered, too. It’s something new, but not quite a drone.
Snowstorm, it’s a one person flying machine and an interesting example is being developed by a team of students at The National University of Singapore.
Description of Snowstorm:
- It’s like a scaled-up drone.
- It has a hexagonal frame, with 24 rotors attached to it.
- The pilot is on hold beneath, in a five-point harness, and below him is the landing gear, which has inflatable balls as feet and should make landings a little less jarring.
- To keep weight down the structure is built from aluminium, carbon fibre, and Kevlar.
A team of eight students took a year to build the craft, in a programme known as Frog works, which “engages students in the study, design and construction of clean leisure craft”.
The Snowstorm in its existing method can carry a person weighing around 70kg, for up to five minutes. That is doubtful to get most people from home to work, but the team says at this early stage they see the craft as more of indoor ‘fun’ rather than a vehicle that will replace cars for the daily commute. Snowstorm is not fully autonomous, but it does make use of UAV software to provide basic functions, such as maintaining its altitude automatically.
“We think that recreational aviation is rife for an electric revolution,” says associate professor Martin Henz, who helped supervise the project at the NUS. “We want to be part of this. Snowstorm is our starting point. We think that a good part of the ultralight aviation community will go electric in a few years’ time. It’s very exciting.” The human on board has to physically control the thrust, and the direction through pitch and roll. If all else fails, there’s a cut-off switch operated by the team on the ground, which ends the flight and brings the machine down – hopefully gently.
The team is getting ready to show the public the progress they have made so far. The next time we will get to see Snowstorm flying is at the Founders Forum event in London in June 2016.
“We managed to secure funding for an improved version of the machine, which we are currently building and testing,” says Henz.
It’s not the only craft emerging in this new category. For example, Chinese company Ehang recently made headlines when it showed a scaled-up drone capable of carrying a human at this year’s CES. The Ehang 184 is designed to carry a passenger about 10 miles (16 kilometres) or for about 23 minutes, and be totally autonomous.
Still, there are a huge number of challenges to be overcome before Ehang’s machine-piloted aircraft can become a reality. The pilot software would have to be incredibly sophisticated, and the craft itself would need to pass stringent safety regulations in countries around the world. Notably, it was not actually demonstrated at CES, in the United States, where its operation would be illegal.
Snowstorm, which is only semi-autonomous, might be the stop-gap solution. Henz says most of us will have to wait to see. To date, the actual flight experiences on Snowstorm are very limited. However the upcoming public demonstration is spurring further development.
“We are gearing up to extensive flight tests in May using an improved machine,” says Henz, “and will train a team of pilots, who you can then ask this question!”
Disclaimer: This video is intended for informational purpose only. This may not be construed as a news item or advice of any sort. Please consult the experts in that field for the authenticity of the presentations.
Video: TODAYonline on YouTube
