Swift Ultra Long Endurance (SULE) Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV)

Ever since UAV's emerged as a reliable science instrument, the technology has been used to augment satellites, balloon flights, and provide spatial/resolution data that falls between cost-effective manned flights and satellite data. Only recently has a 10-12 hour UAV been considered reliable enough to move closer to the ultimate goal of UAV's, which is ultra-long duration (month-long or more) sustained flight without any human intervention. Helios, Airbus, Titan, Facebook, and the PUMA UAV's have already helped push the boundaries of ultra-long endurance UAV's, however, focusing on specific power (Wh/kg - the ratio of power, time and mass) may provide NASA with a new solution. Swift Engineering is proposing a solution that is optimized at the subsystem (solar cell, batteries, power management) and at the system level. It utilizes the highest specific power technologies and provides substantial test data to back up power analysis for Phase II. Swift's long heritage developing UAV's, since 2001, with the Bat and now the X-Blade platforms make Swift an unique NASA partner for this technology demonstration. Swift has 15 years of experience to leverage in designing UAV's, solar cell integration, designing solar arrays, designing of power electronics, and testing batteries. This combined with heritage programs will allow Swift to quickly optimize the aircraft for Phase II.

NASA applications: (1) Enable essential calibration measurements for the Earth-observing satellites and the validation of data retrieval algorithms, (2) Provide sub-orbital opportunities to test and refine new instrument technologies/algorithms and reduce risk prior to committing sensors for launch in to space, (3) Obtain high-resolution temporal and spatial measurements of complex local processes, which can be coupled to global satellite observations for a better understanding of the complete Earth systems, and (4) Over-the-horizon high bandwidth.

Non-NASA Applications: (1) gas monitoring (2) storm monitoring (3) visual monitoring of coastal erosion (4) Illegal fishing monitoring (5) On-demand communication over long distances or mountainous terrain (pseudo-satellite) (6) Agricultural surveys (7) Wildfire and wildlife monitoring

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.