MIPS Project Challenge:
With the current MIPS award, researchers seek to develop a custom flight control system for the HorseSHU UAS.

Project Scope:
The objective of Phase 1 is to obtain high-quality data to characterize the aerodynamics of the HorseSHU UAS over its wide range of configurations and operating conditions. This aerodynamic research will be conducted in conjunction with the Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel. The data from Phase 1 will be used in Phase 2 to design and implement a custom flight controller for enhanced aerial operations via autonomous flight.

Additional Information:
Airgility is a University of Maryland startup founded by Evandro Valente and Pramod Raheja, both aerospace engineering alumni from the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The technology innovation driving the intellectual property behind the HorseSHU has been filed in a patent application through the UMD Office of Technology Commercialization.

The HorseSHU program has previously been awarded funding from TEDCO under the Maryland Innovation Initiative—Phase I, $100,000, and Phase II, $15,000, concurrently. The MII Program supported the early stages of product development, prototype fabrication, test and evaluation, and market development for the HorseSHU UAS. The current MIPS project supports a higher fidelity investigation into the aerodynamic advantages offered by this vehicle concept. Early work behind the legacy vehicle stems from NASA Langley’s V173, also known as the “Flying Pancake”.

Since fixed-wing unmanned vehicles are sidelined by the FAA from airport (runway) accessibility, VTOL concepts are often viewed as the main drivers of the UAS industry. This results in a favorable market fit for systems able to offer the operational freedom of vertical takeoff and landing; however, most VTOL platforms are inherently limited by their original design premises. In the case of multi-rotor concepts, speed, flight time, and payload volume/weight are limiting factors. Meanwhile, in the case of helicopters, complexity, speed, and range are the primary limitations.

The HorseSHU is neither tilt-rotor nor tilt-wing; rather, it is referred to as tilt-nacelle, which has both favorable and scalable aerodynamic and operational advantages. Specifically, the HorseSHU elegantly blends the maneuverability, and simplicity of the quad-copter with the vertical flight efficiency of the helicopter, and the speed, payload capacity, and endurance of the fixed-wing aircraft into one platform. These features enable UAS operators in the business of surveying and monitoring agriculture, disaster areas, infrastructure (i.e. power lines, pipelines, cell towers) to increase revenue by surveying 3-5 times the property per hour over traditional platforms.