HAL's chopper UAV takes to the skies
The video feed from onboard the Rotary Wing vehicle was streamed live and shown on a video receiver.
Bengaluru: The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Friday successfully demonstrated the flight of a 10Kg Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (RUAV) in the presence of its Board of Directors.
The RUAV has a two-stroke petrol engine, twin blade main rotor and tail rotor, with a payload capability of 2.5 kg, including a live stream video camera. Its range is 8-10 km with an endurance of one hour.
The flight lasted for about ten minutes during which the Attitude Control Attitude Hold (ACAH) mode, Position Control, Position Hold mode (autonomous hover), low speed flight in forward, backward and sideward directions, were demonstrated. The video feed from onboard the Rotary Wing vehicle was streamed live and shown on a video receiver. The status of the helicopter, its parameters and its real-time position on the map were also shown.
To achieve self reliance in the aviation field and to enhance its R&D efforts, HAL is working closely with premier educational institutes and has established chairs at IITs (Madras, Roorkee, Kharagpur, Bombay and Kanpur) and IISc, Bengaluru. The RUAV is developed in association with IIT Kanpur and is the first outcome of HAL’s tie-ups with academia.
“With this demo, HAL’s Rotary Wing R&D Centre (RWR&DC) is poised to employ its skills and capabilities to undertake development of Rotary UAVs of higher weight classes and weapons as payloads. The success is the testimony to the Industry-academia collaboration,” said T. Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL.