[clug] [OT] Medical Aid UAV flown in the UK: 2-engine, 100kg payload, 1, 000kms range

[steve jenkin]

No mention of “Outback Joe” UAV / Medical Challenge in what I read.
<https://uavchallenge.org/medical-rescue/>

A UAV with 100kg payload - can see a lot of nervous regulators.
No idea of actual size.
Think MTOW of 350kg, puts it in Ultra-light category.

Some mention of initial certification limited to 40kg in UK.

Seems to be a well funded and technically competent group (Windracers, Norwegian for ‘horse’ is claimed.)

The UAV had a proper registration number - this is a long way down the road of certification, testing and registration.

Autonomous take-off (hard-surface airfield)
but manual landing (another hard airstrip)

18 min flight, notionally 5 miles distance, but flight distance longer - multiple loops of each airfield (gaining/losing height?)

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Twitter account - lots of relevant posts & videos
<https://twitter.com/windracers?lang=en>

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Coronavirus: medical drones could soon be helping to beat the crisis
1 May 2020
<https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-medical-drones-could-soon-be-helping-to-beat-the-crisis-137640>

In a recent announcement, the UK government said that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could be ferrying vital personal protective equipment (PPE) from the English mainland to NHS staff on the Isle of Wight as soon as early May. The Windracers Ultra fixed-wing drones, which can transport 100kg for over 600 miles, should be able to make the crossing in ten to 15 minutes.

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UK Isle of Wight drone-delivery test succeeds with Windracers Ultra flight
	9 May 2020
<https://dronedj.com/2020/05/09/uk-isle-of-wight-drone-delivery-test-succeeds-with-windracers-ultra-flight/>

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Organisation website
<https://www.windracers.org/home/#about-us>
	- not for profit
	- associated with University of Southampton, 
		Faculty of Engineering & the Environment's Computational Engineering & Design Group

STEPHEN WRIGHT
	Stephen is an experienced private equity investor and the principal backer of Windracers.

CHARLES SCALES 
	Charles is the Chief Executive Officer at Windracers.
	He has a successful global career in aviation & logistics industry, and management consulting

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University of Southampton’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Team
<https://www.sotonuav.uk/projects/#ultra>

ULTRA (Unmanned Low cost TRansport Aircraft) is UK’s largest civilian unmanned aircraft.
 Weighing in at 350kg fully loaded, it has been specifically designed for long range cargo transport missions. 
The airframe has been designed to operate from unprepared airfields with minimal infrastructure and as such uses well proven fabric covered aluminium construction for maximum robustness against the elements.
Its lifting wing body fuselage has been designed to be as easy to load and unload as an estate car featuring hinged rear access to the payload bay.
In addition the aircraft can be equipped with payload releasing mechanism to deploy the cargo for remote resupply or delivery missions. 

Electronically ULTRA employs novel distributed architectures, 
whereby each safety critical component of the aircraft has either mechanical or electrical redundancy built in from the onset. 
This design philosophy has been inherited from the Spotter airframe in in order to minimise any single points of failure.

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--
Steve Jenkin, IT Systems and Design 
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 38, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

mailto:sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin