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Sustainable Technology Empowering Sustainable Practices: An Exploration of Range-land Monitoring Using a Solar Powered UAV

Undergraduate #417
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Environmental Engineering

Liana Gutierrez - New Mexico State University


Designing technology for application in the southwest elicits an appreciation for and a tendency to incorporate those resources that are both sustainable and abundant; in this case, sunlight. Similarly, range-land monitoring focuses on proper stewardship of many other environmental resources such as vegetation, wildlife, soil and water systems. Thus, the objective of this project – to design and build a remote-controlled solar plane for the purpose of range-land monitoring – stems from the same philosophy that prompted consideration of sustainability in design. The plane (hereafter referred to as an unmanned aerial vehicle, UAV) integrates photo-voltaic cells on the wings to allow it to cruise for long periods of time during the day offering an inexpensive and efficient platform for range-land monitoring. The UAV’s ability to carry a payload of up to 5 lbs weighed heavily in the final determination of an optimal design with respect to wing area, wing aspect ratio, and solar cell placement. Ultimately, a design based on a low airspeed for minimum power consumption was favored over a design with high wing loading. Low airspeed provides an added advantage in that it will enable the UAV to more accurately assess and record, via cameras and/or sensors, the range-land conditions. A half-scale prototype of the design was built based on CAD drawings to evaluate the aerodynamic performance and handling characteristics. The half-scale testing proved the design would meet the requirements of the intended application. At present, construction of the fuselage and wing (of the full-size model) is mostly finished and focus is shifting toward development and assembly of the wing-mount and the landing gear. Questions regarding diversification and range of application shall be explored after final testing.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): National Science Foundation, New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation.

Faculty Advisor: Andreas Gross, agross@nmsu.edu

Role: I participated in fabrication of the fuselage and wings for the full-scale model. I was also responsible for researching photo-voltaic cells as the placement/arrangement plays an important role in the conversion efficiency of the plane.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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