Paper Plane: Towards Disposable Low-Cost Folded Cellulose-Substrate UAVs

摘要

Disposable folded cellulose-substrate micro-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) - paper planes - have the surprising potential to be effective platforms for deploying remote sensors at low-cost. With inexpensive inertial sensors and circuits printed on inexpensive structural material, the cost of a mini-scale aircraft can be reduced to the point that discarding the aircraft post-mission is economical. When launched from high-altitude balloons, paper UAVs capable of navigating jet-stream winds could be guided to land anywhere on Earth with no additional power input. This paper discusses paper as a multi-functional electronic-aeromechanical material for use in disposable micro UAVs. A proof of concept paper aircraft with inertial sensors and elevens, is presented and it is show that glide performance of the aircraft is not compromised by added mass.