SBIR Phase I: A Novel Form of Distributed Electric Propulsion for UAVs and Air Mobility

SBIR 第一阶段：用于无人机和空中机动的分布式电力推进的新型形式

• 批准号: 2014656
• 负责人: Andrew Dickens
• 金额: $ 22.48万
• 依托单位: WildSpark Technologies
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-15 至 2021-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2014656&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; Form; Distributed

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to advance the capability for both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and air taxis to operate in urban environments. The form factor of this propulsion technology will allow air vehicles to maneuver, land, and park in tight spaces and to reduce or eliminate the risk of propeller contact injuries. These new capabilities will allow unmanned aerial vehicles and air taxis to operate in dense urban environments and in closer proximity to human beings without risk of injury or collision with the urban environment. In turn, this will accelerate applications such as autonomous package delivery, where UAVs are expected to operate autonomously around unpredictable humans, as well as air taxis, with inherent challenges in tight maneuvering and proximity to waiting passengers. Furthermore, these manufacturing techniques may find other applications in fields such as wearable and implanted hybrid electronic systems. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will advance the state of the art in unmanned aerial vehicle and manned air vehicle capabilities. The proposed research will develop a novel propulsion solution that can be built to form factors unachievable with current technology. These form factors can be designed to both eliminate the possibility of propeller contact injuries to human beings and allow a significantly higher degree of maneuverability in very close quarters. The implementation of this solution will require new innovations in the manufacture of flexible hybrid electronics (FHE), combining flexible substrates with support electronics. This project will evaluate the technical feasibility of this proposed approach through the construction of a prototype device using flexible hybrid electronics manufacturing techniques. This project will then conduct verification and validation tests in environments relevant to the missions envisioned for unmanned aerial vehicles and other urban air mobility systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小型企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是提高无人机 (UAV) 和空中出租车在城市环境中运行的能力。 这种推进技术的外形尺寸将使飞行器能够在狭小的空间内机动、着陆和停放，并减少或消除螺旋桨接触伤害的风险。 这些新功能将使无人机和空中出租车能够在密集的城市环境中、更接近人类的地方运行，而不会造成受伤或与城市环境发生碰撞的风险。 反过来，这将加速自动包裹递送等应用的发展，无人机预计将在不可预测的人类周围自主运行，而空中出租车则面临着严格机动和接近等待乘客的固有挑战。 此外，这些制造技术可能会在可穿戴和植入混合电子系统等领域找到其他应用。 这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将推进无人机和载人飞行器能力的最先进水平。 拟议的研究将开发一种新颖的推进解决方案，可以构建现有技术无法实现的形状因素。 这些外形尺寸的设计既可以消除螺旋桨对人体造成接触伤害的可能性，又可以在非常近距离的情况下实现显着更高程度的机动性。 该解决方案的实施需要在柔性混合电子器件 (FHE) 的制造方面进行新的创新，将柔性基板与支持电子器件相结合。 该项目将通过使用灵活混合电子制造技术构建原型设备来评估该提议方法的技术可行性。 然后，该项目将在与无人机和其他城市空中交通系统设想的任务相关的环境中进行验证和确认测试。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响进行评估，被认为值得支持审查标准。