Cooperative Unmanned Cargo Delivery

What is it about?

The LIFT! Project explored scaling of all-electric multi-rotor propulsion, ground powered tether technologies for large multi-rotor aircraft, and methods of cooperation between multiple VTOL aircraft. Multi-rotor aircraft have become pervasive throughout the hobby industry, research institutions, etc. due - in part - to very powerful, inexpensive inertial measurement devices and increased energy density of Li-Ion batteries driven by the mobile phone industry. Although the energy density of Li-Ion batteries have enabled all-electric flight, the currently available Li-Ion battery energy density severely limits flight times and useful load capabilities of all electric aircraft. The LIFT! Project’s objective was to leverage emerging electric aircraft architectures to demonstrate modular lifting units for short distance missions. The all-electric propulsion architecture developed for the LIFT! Project allows for ground power delivery capabilities via a high-voltage tethering system which enables greatly increased flight time and increased useful load capabilities. This paper outlines the LIFT! Project’s powered tether implementation while demonstrating the effectiveness, modularity and scalability of electric multi-rotor technologies for large, electric, unmanned multi-rotor aircraft. This research offers new insights on the feasibility of large electric VTOL aircraft, empirical trends, ground powered operations, potential markets, and future research necessary for the commercial viability of electric VTOL aircraft.

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