Proprotor Hover Performance and Wing Download for the RAVEN eVTOL Aircraft

In the past several years, a number of large-scale prototype electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft have been flight tested by aircraft manufacturers to achieve their commercial product development goals for the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market. Owing to intellectual property and propriety information concerns, however, relatively few large-scale eVTOL aircraft have been flight tested for research purposes to produce data that can be published to benefit the broader aeronautics community. The corresponding lack of available flight test data makes it difficult for researchers to validate and improve computational tools that are needed for advancing the state of the art in eVTOL aircraft design. The proposed Phase II effort will advance the development of the Research Aircraft for eVTOL Enabling techNologies (RAVEN). RAVEN is an eVTOL aircraft with a gross weight in excess of 1000 lbs that is being developed to conduct flight research related to acoustics, flight dynamics and control, interactional aerodynamics, and autonomy for AAM aircraft. The work in Phase II will focus on experimental measurements of the download forces produced by the wingtip proprotors on the wing in hover. These experiments will be carried out using full-scale RAVEN wing and proprotor components. The work will also investigate modified wing designs for RAVEN to reduce download, weight, and cruise drag. The proposed innovation is the Research Aircraft for eVTOL Enabling techNologies (RAVEN). RAVEN is a remotely piloted eVTOL aircraft with a gross weight in excess of 1000 lbs that is being developed to conduct flight research related to acoustics, flight dynamics and control, interactional aerodynamics, and autonomy relevant for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) aircraft. RAVEN is based on a single-seat homebuilt kit airframe and leverages COTS propulsion and control components to allow rapid assembly at low costs. RAVEN is being developed to provide open, publicly available, and relevant flight test data to allow researchers to validate and improve computational tools that are needed for advancing the state of the art in full-scale eVTOL aircraft design. --Experimental testing of RAVEN proprotor hover performance --Experimental measurements of download on the RAVEN wing in hover --Proposed deliverables include data sets of experimental results and new wing designs to reduce download

RAVEN development has been funded for the past four years by NASA ARMD projects including CAS, TTT, and FDC. The work in the proposed Phase II STTR will continue to advance RAVEN development by characterizing download forces in hover and creating improved wing designs. The Phase II STTR will further advance RAVEN along the pathway to becoming an enduring eVTOL flight research asset to support NASA ARMD research. The proposed effort will advance the state of development of RAVEN and position Wingborne Aeronautics to commercialize the aircraft as a test platform for other government and commercial customers and to develop a follow-on autonomous eVTOL cargo aircraft of similar scale.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.