Engineering:NUAA Unmanned Ornithopter
| Unmanned ornithopter | |
|---|---|
| Role | UAV |
| National origin | China |
| Manufacturer | NUAA |
| Designer | NUAA |
| Status | In service |
| Primary user | China |
NUAA Unmanned Ornithopters are China UAVs developed by Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), and all of them are experimental aircraft intended to explore technologies of ornithopters. As of 2014 a total of three have been publicized.
Golden Hawk
Golden Hawk (Jin-Ying or Jinying, 金鹰) UAV is an unmanned ornithopter developed by NUAA three Ph.D. students of NUAA headed by Ms. Chen Mei-Li (陈美丽). Golden Hawk made its public debut in September 2011 at the first AVIC Creativity Cup competition. The airframe of Golden Hawk unmanned ornithopter is constructed of carbon fiber and wood, and the wings and the tail are made of nylon fiber used for parachute. The flight control system is based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Besides research, the primary application of Golden Hawk is to disperse birds within airport vicinity by carrying a micro broadcasting system of recorded shriek of raptors, so that birds can be dispersed with less lethal means.[1]
Gull
Gull (Hai-Ou or Haiou, 海鸥) UAV is an unmanned ornithopter developed by NUAA student Mr. Huang Ming-Yang (黄鸣阳), under the direct supervision of NUAA Professor Ang Hai-Song (昂海松). After more than eighty failures, the design finally succeeded after more than eight months of development. Gull is the first Chinese sectional bionic unmanned ornithopter, and it is also the largest Chinese unmanned ornithopter as of mid-2014. Gull has been presented at 4th International Conference on Bionics Engineering (ICBE 2013) and Mr. Huang is currently working on further improving the design.[2] Specification:[3]
- Wingspan (m): 2.2
Sky Hawk
Sky Hawk (Tian-Ying or Tianying, 天鹰) UAV is an unmanned ornithopter developed by NUAA. In addition to research, the primary application of Golden Hawk is also to disperse birds within airport vicinity beside research, just like Golden Hawk described earlier. What differs from Sky Hawk from Golden Hawk besides technical and performance parameters in mainly in the way they are used to disperse birds. Contrary to the scare tactic Golden Hawk employed, Sky Hawk is designed as a lure instead. Sky Hawk is designed to mimic birds of the same kind and lure them away from runways when birds follow Sky Hawk in flight. Specification:[4]
- Weight (kg): 1.5
- Speed (km/hr): 30 – 60
Silver Wing 03
Silver Wing (Yin-Chi or Yinchi, 银翅) 03 UAV is an unmanned ornithopter developed by NUAA. In addition to research, the primary application of Golden Hawk is also to disperse birds within airport vicinity, just like Sky Hawk described earlier. Silver Wing is smaller than its larger cousin Sky Hawk and it is a micro air vehicle (MAV). The need of a micro unmanned ornithopter was revealed during the test of Sky Hawk for its effectiveness as a bait to lure birds away from the runway: although many birds have followed Sky Hawk and were led away from the immediate vicinity of the runway, these birds are limited to certain breeds only, because Sky Hawk can only mimic some breeds of bird due to its size. For smaller birds, a micro unmanned ornithopter with smaller size was needed for the project to work successfully, and Silver Wing 03 was the result. Silver Wing 03 is classified as MAV due to its compact size.[5]
See also
List of unmanned aerial vehicles of China
References
 |
