The DARPA Vulture Project The future of UAVs By: Tara Johnson

History of UAVs UVA is an acronym for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Americans first used UAVs during the Civil War but they were as primitive as balloons filled with explosives were used to throw into enemy terrain Obviously UAVs have improved over the decades with the help of technology

History of UAVs (cont) It wasn’t until the 1960s that useful UAVs proved to be helpful The first models, referred to as “drones” were used for espionage and reconnaissance purposes during the Cold War UAVs are even being used now in the war in Afghanistan

Commercial Uses of UAVs Industry Use of UAVs Agricultural Industry UAVs equipped with fertilizer and pesticide dispersing equipment can be used to spray over large fields. Air Traffic Control UAVs can be used to monitor air traffic over busy airports. Coast Watch UAVs are being used by the coast guard for monitoring coastlines. Crop Monitoring Right now, only over 10% of the crops in the US are being monitored by aircraft. Use of UAVs would greatly increase the region or area under surveillance. Environmental/Weather Control Research Weather balloons are being used to monitor the weather on the ground. Ground Traffic Control UAVs are beginning to be used to monitor traffic and accidents over major state highways. News Broadcasting UAVs are finding use in providing aerial video feeds for news events where reporters cannot get to in time.

Summary of the Vulture Project The US DARPA (The United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) began a new project in April 2008 to create an unmanned aerial vehicle that can travel 60,000 to 90,000 feet from Earth for five successive years This project is called Vulture

Summary of the Vulture Project (cont.) The Vulture would be positioned over a certain area of interest where it would complete tasks in: Communication Intelligence Reconnaissance Surveillance

Summary of the Vulture Project (cont.) Vulture program is NOT creating a satellite, instead it is a technology that carries the benefits of both satellites and aircrafts while remaining an aircraft: Affordable deployment Energy independence Flexibility

Designs of the Project Initially, DARPA’s Vulture was to be designed by Aurora Flight Sciences and was planned to look like this: http://www.foxnews.com/images/534492/0_23_vulture_darpa_aurora.jpg It was called “Odysseus”

Designs of the Project (cont) Boeing bought out Aurora Flight Sciences on September 15, 2010 Boeing’s model maintained the same basic shape as their processor, however they changed the wingspan from 160 feet to being more than 400 feet long

Phases of the Project Phase One lasted from 2008 to 2009 and consisted of a definition of Vulture’s conceptual system Phase Two is now scheduled to last from 2009 to mid-2012, and with a budget of $155 million, in which subscale demonstrators would be built and tested

Phases of the Project (cont) Phase Three would require: A full-scale aircraft demonstrator to be built and it would have the ability to remain up for a full and uninterrupted year A program that has achieved at least an overall Technology Readiness Level of 6.

Conclusion Although DARPA’s Vulture project is not a completed project, it still has much promise for the future Boeing has completed their model the “Solar Eagle” which is so far designed to run on solar-electric power for 30 days. http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/Solar-Eagle-Contract-Goes-to-Boeing-2.jpg It may not be 5 years yet, but 30 days is a step in the right direction

References http://aln.list.ufl.edu/uav/UAVHstry.htm http://www.aurora.aero/communications/Item.aspx?id=apr-210 http://www.darpa.mil/news/2008/vulture.pdf http://www.darpa.mil/news/2010/NewsReleaseVultureII.pdf http://www.darpa.mil/tto/programs/vulture/ http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/DARPAs-Vulture-What-Goes-Up-Neednt-Come-Down-04852/ http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/09/16/347380/boeing-aims-for-five-year-flights-after-vulture-win.html http://psipunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Boeing-SolarEagle-UAV-Solar-Energy.jpg