Staying power: Solar-powered UAVs aim to go the distance

摘要

The operational endurance of contemporary unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), from pocketable nano-UAVs to high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) platforms with wingspans the size of commercial airliners, continues to be restricted by available onboard battery or fuel capacity regardless of their size. Consequently, even the most capable medium-altitude, long-endurance- (MALE-) and HALE-class UAVs - such as the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron 1 (up to 45 hours endurance), General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9B SeaGuard-ian/SkyGuardian (40 hours), and Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk (36 hours) - are required to return to base for refuelling and maintenance.