Unmanned vehicles have caught huge attentions for the convenience of applications in many areas. In particular, the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones with the capability of three dimensional motions, being able to easily fly over mountains, rivers, lakes, etc., are very attractive. They almost have no limit in the movement. However, they also have a major drawback, power limit. Currently the UAVs or drones are mainly powered by either gasolines or batteries. The gasolines are highly dangerous for the possibility of explosion and cause sever damages when the drones accidentally crash to ground. Batteries are much safer than gasolines, but they only provide very limited time of flight for drones that can vertically take off or land. The flight time is mostly only around 20 minutes and usually less than 30 minutes. Hence, it is very crucial to develop the technologies that enable drones to continuously fly over much longer time, say several hours. Therefore, in this project, we aim for solving this issue. We will combine the domain knowledge in the areas of optoelectronics, control, and communications to significantly extend the flight time of drones. We expect to achieve several hours of continuous flight, so drones can be used to explore the frontiers that people have never gone before.
To make the vertically taking-off drones powered by solar energy, two key issues have to be solved. The first is the area for propellers is better left open without coverage of solar panels. This will lead to the limited area for harvesting sun light. Second, the commercial solar panels have limited efficiency. As a result, to generate sufficient power for drones, the area has to be large. This will lead to two major problems. One is that the large-area commercial solar panels are too heavy for drones. The other is that the horizontal area for multi-copter is huge, so making drones difficult to take off and balance. To solve these problems, we have to re-design the configuration of multi-copters entirely. Also, the solar modules for multi-copters need to be redesigned and fabricated. Thus our Lab has developed all the technologies required to evaluate, design, and fabricate the drones, solar cells and modules, etc., to make the vertically taking-off UAVs powered by sunshine directly.
The video for flying solar-powered quad-copter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pns0RaCsMK8&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=ukcqt3DRLRQ
https://www.thedroneu.com/adu-0726-ces-2018/
https://player.fm/series/series-1453804/adu-0726-ces-2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rEH8wrvWcQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz0ZZtyzcaM
Press reports:
https://unmanned-aerial.com/solardrone-creates-pv-powered-quadcopter
https://hugethinking.com/post/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://droneclick.com/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
https://thesoac.com/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
https://www.suasnews.com/2017/12/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-ces-2018/
https://www.dronewatch.nl/2018/01/04/deze-zonaangedreven-quadcopter-blijft-vliegen-tot-het-donker-wordt/ (In Dutch)
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@www-qudron-com/game-of-drones-solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018-118440
http://droneward.org/2017/12/29/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://www.bestflyingdrones.com/blog/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://www.dronernation.com/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://syedzeeshanahmad.blogspot.tw/2017/12/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to.html
http://senord.co/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
https://www.dronewatch.nl/2018/01/04/deze-zonaangedreven-quadcopter-blijft-vliegen-tot-het-donker-wordt/
https://www.droneblog.com/2018/01/09/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
https://goo.gl/VXMe55
http://mp.163.com/v2/article/detail/D7J5OHCI0511CCCJ.html
https://drone1.ru/news/solardrone-predstavit-novyj-dron-na-solnecnyh-batareah-na-ces-2018.html (in Russian)
https://dronelife.com/2018/01/09/taiwanese-project-launches-improved-solar-drones/
http://mykvadrocopter.ru/solardrone/ (in Russian)
https://www.drones.nl/nieuws/2017/12/solardrone-vliegt-uren-op-zonne-energie (in Dutch)
http://fp-co.com/16063-2/ (in Persian)
https://www.amw.jp/2017/12/31/201712311/ (in Japanese)
https://dronedj.com/2017/12/29/drone-solar-panels/
http://baoquangnam.vn/cong-nghe-va-cuoc-song/201712/may-bay-khong-nguoi-lai-dung-nang-luong-mat-troi-774404/ (in Vietnamese)
http://awuav.world/taiwanese-project-launches-improved-solar-drones/
https://technews.tw/2018/01/12/ces-eureka-park-taiwan-startups/
http://skyfix.co.za/member-news/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://sosim13p.blogspot.tw/2017/12/solardrone-established-from-laboratory.html
https://dronetalkdaily.com/2017/12/30/ntu-solardrone/
http://t.cj.sina.com.cn/articles/view/5861122049/15d59a001001002bo2
https://read01.com/5MO4ePd.html#.Wu-xvaSFOpq
https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/10769/watch-solar-powered-drone-to-be-launched-at-ces-2018
http://www.aopayun.com/category/hkht/content-192-1-1-1-13442.html
https://www.dronesplayer.com/72523/ces-2018%E5%89%8D%E7%9E%BB%EF%BC%9A%E7%84%A1%E4%BA%BA%E6%A9%9F-5-%E5%A4%A7%E7%9C%8B%E9%A0%AD%E3%80%80%E6%B8%AF%E5%8F%B0%E6%96%B0%E7%A7%80%E5%87%BA%E6%93%8A/
https://www.drone.jp/special/20180117105516.html (in Japanese)
https://drone1.ru/news/solardrone-predstavit-novyj-dron-na-solnecnyh-batareah-na-ces-2018.html (in Russian)
http://www.livedronenews.com/news/82078/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018
http://senord.co/solardrone-ntu-allowing-drones-to-explore-unexplored-frontiers-launches-at-ces-2018/
http://www.livedronenews.com/news/82215/taiwanese-project-launches-improved-solar-drones
http://www.yuchen360.cn/news/16524-0-0.html
https://udn.com/news/story/7314/2983400
https://www.digitimes.com.tw/col/article.asp?id=982
https://www.digitimes.com.tw/col/article.asp?id=983
https://www.digitimes.com.tw/col/article.asp?id=984
