Long Endurance Flight Schemes for UAVs, Phase I

A method for providing endurance enhancement for unmanned aerial vehicles based on atmospheric phenomena is presented. The proposed method allows the UAV to sense certain atmospheric phenomena, and adapt itself to exploit these phenomena. The Phase I effort consists of understanding the physics of such flight, and developing the control laws for enabling the UAV to exploit these atmospheric phenomena. Flight tests are planned for Phase II, where the control laws will be further refined.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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.