Background:Qinetiq is a UK defence, aerospace and security expert that endeavours to fi nd the best solutions for its customers’ security needs. Renowned for pushing the boundaries when it comes to innovation, Qinetiq has broken records, and won awards, for its disruptive technology and engineering research. Following the creation of Zephyr 7, an unmanned aerial vehicle created to survey large areas of land and sea which broke previous record attempts, Qinetiq was recognised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for its revolutionary part in aircraft design at the IET’s Innovation Awards.

Motivation:The project ‘Zephyr’ began prior to the privatisation of Qinetiq in 2006, when the company was still part of the Government’s Defence Evaluation and Research Agency. Already familiar with how military communications satellites provide surveillance services around the world, the team were faced with trying to fi nd a better way of doing the job. Chris Kelleher, the chief designer of high-altitude endurance unmanned aerial vehicles at Qinetiq, led the project team and began exploring whether aircrafts could be left in the stratosphere permanently. The problem was that the technology simply just didn’t exist.

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As part of the company’s fl otation celebrations, Qinetiq chose to sponsor another world-record attempt. This one was a manned balloon, set to fl y at 132,000ft. Kelleher’s team used this opportunity to develop an aerial vehicle that would fl y alongside the balloon in order to photograph how it performed at altitude.

Several concepts were investigated to photograph the fl ight. They included launching a daughter balloon with photography equipment on board and using an infl atable arm that would capture the manned balloon at altitude. It was decided that the fi nal concept would be a high-altitude aircraft that could carry cameras and video equipment. Work soon started on what would become Zephyr, designed to take pictures of the world record attempt. Results:The team began by evolving an old Qinetiq idea; a bike plane that was developed back in 1923. From this concept, the team were able to explore a series of developments and test fl ights that would soon evolve into an unmanned aircraft. While the world record attempt of fl ying the manned balloon was unfortunately abandoned, by 2005 the prototype Zephyr was ready. This lightweight unmanned aircraft soon attracted interest from the MoD who contracted the team to adapt the concept further.

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“We investigated all possible routes to create an aircraft that would fl y permanently in the sky unmanned. We recognised the operational cost savings that this would create for defence teams that would use these aircrafts for communication purposes,” explains Kelleher.

Zephyr 2010 launch

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Kelleher concludes: “Our team strives to take on what others would deem risky in order to evolve the current landscape of innovative technology and ground-breaking solutions. We have and will continue to make use of the IET Design and Production sector as a trusted resource to fi nd the challenges and solutions to do this and we continue to value and make use of its essential engineering intelligence to ensure we do things better for the future.”

“We were building something very light and strong while at the same time exploring aerodynamics that no other aircraft was currently operating,” says Kelleher.

“The reason why no one had done this before was because you needed a threshold performance level to be able to fl y continuously overnight as well the ability to store energy and maintain altitude.”

The team began developing various sections of the aircraft to achieve this and again drew interest and investment from the MoD. An improved version was built and successfully fl ew over three and a half days, an attempt which was unfortunately not offi cially recorded. The MoD paid for the development of subsequent aircraft that would also be used to test a MoD payload. What resulted was the award winning, and record breaking, Zephyr 7.

“Zephyr 7 truly tested the mechanics of its structure and its ability to store power,” Kelleher said. “This was the fi rst application in the world to test this kind of technology, and it was being done in a form of an aeroplane.”

The technology consisted of a series of solar panels that would feed electricity to two brushless motors that would drive the propeller. The aircraft used lithium-sulphur batteries to store and produce energy, which proved to be a winning formula.

Kelleher explained; “One of the biggest breakthroughs we had was getting an extremely low drag through the aircraft along with a very light structural weight, while at the same time not being too fragile to handle. By using very high modular carbon fi bres, we were able to take this to the extreme”.

However despite the successes, the team did experience some challenges during the process particularly around fi nance.

“One of the main obstacles we experienced was that budget constraints were making it diffi cult to secure contracts both in the US and UK. This was clearly a disruptive type of technology, that would take a while before we could get to market, so we needed to take it through to demonstration stage and prove the system,” said Kelleher.

In 2010 the aircraft fl ew for a record time of 14 days, 22 minutes and eight seconds. The aircraft weighed in at 50kg with a wingspan of 22m and fl ew in excess of 70,000ft during its record fl ight. This fl ight also marked the successful test of an MoD payload. It proved to be completely different to any aircraft while at the same time proving to offer shrewd persistence and reliability, taking down the operation costs of surveillance and communication.

“This was a signifi cant achievement and we had evolved an innovation into a practical product that was useful and could be sold,” said Kelleher. “Entering and winning the IET Innovation Awards in the Product Design category marked this occasion and has given us the extra kudos and visibility that has allowed us to take Zephyr to international markets.”

Future:The MoD continues to show interest in Zephyr as does the US Department of Defence, both of which have driven plans for further payload tests and the development of a larger aircraft that can stay at altitude for even longer. Aiming for a target of three months, Qinetiq’s engineers will tailor this system for particular purposes such as fi re detection, piracy and surveying large areas of land and ocean.

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Zephyr 2010 launch

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