Im VII Achieves 30 Hours of Flight Time

Indiana Unmanned Aircraft Systems announced today that their Im VII Airborne Remote Sensor Platform has surpassed 30 hours of flight time in less than three weeks.  ”Only 20 more hours to go and we will have the 50 hours required for airframe certification,” said Jeff Imel, designer of the aircraft.  The company is using the flight time to work through a series of test flight cards that explore the flight handling specifications and characteristics of the Im VII.  From these test card series, a Flight Operations Manual (FOM) will be created that can be used by future pilots as a reference for training and familiarization.  In the three weeks of flight testing the aircraft has flown in winds gusting up to 35 knots and temperatures as low as five degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

Stress Tests Completed

The Im VII wing structure has been undergoing a series of lateral and torsional twist stress tests.  

Im VII wing panel section after stress test.

The results of the two week test evolution revealed that the wing structure (weighing only 23 ounces) can support 110 pounds before failure.  Additional test performed included:

• Payload section survivability test where an Im VII was flown straight into the ground from an altitude of 250 feet. 
• Outer wing panel separation test that required the aircraft to land in field with harvested corn stalks and survive without a hull breakup.
• Flight surface control linkage and servo stress testing

The 110 pound failure point is above and beyond the Im VII’s maximum design payload weight of 20 pounds.  Most all airborne remote imaging sorties have a gross take-off weight of only five to six pounds so the Im VII is more than strong enough to endure the roughest of field conditions.

“Practice Throwing a Baseball Bat”

 

Im VII AV-2A Hand Launch

“Practice throwing a baseball bat.”  What does throwing a baseball bat have to do with launching Unmanned Aircraft Systems? A majority of small unmanned aircraft systems crashes occur on take-off and landing.  These small systems are flying at or near their maximum gross take-off weight and do not possess the lift required to get airborne quickly. A fast run and a hard toss is required to prevent a crash.  One manufacture instructs its customers to grab a baseball bat by the large end and throw it over hand.  They write, “continue practicing until the baseball bat flies straight for at least thirty feet and then the pilot will possess the skills and the strength to safely launch the aircraft. “

The Im VII requires no such practice.  An easy toss into the wind – no running required – and the Im VII is airborne.  The launch should be the least eventful and most routine portion of any sortie.

You can see for yourself how easy the Im VII takes to the air by clicking on the video.

“We Have a Winner!”

 

Im VII capures its ground crew on camera.

“We have a winner,” said Jeff Imel with a smile after landing the Im VII AV-2A on a cold but sunny January afternoon.  With over 10 hours of flight time logged in less than a week, the  Im VII is proving itself and exceeding predicted endurance and lift design expectations.  During one flight test, Imel had the Im VII climb to altitude and then switched off the electric motor.  The aircraft silently and slowly sailed through the sky like a hawk that is native to East-Central Indiana.  After several minutes Imel powered up the motor and the Im VII accelerated and quickly turned into a small dot in the sky.  People who stopped next to the field where Imel was flying were all asking how an aircraft with no tail can fly – let alone fly so well.

 

Imel remarked, “This is what we designed the Im VII to do – to get into and out of small clearings, carry heavy payload, absorb rough handling and remain aloft for long periods of time.  No other aircraft of convention design (wing, fuselage and tail) can touch the Im VII’s flight characteristics.”

Spectral Remote Sensing for Agricultural Decisions

 

Soybean field taken at 720 nm (Red-Edge) near-infrared.

Airborne remote sensing provides valuable insights into agronomic management.  Leaf reflectance and leaf emittance changes in response to leaf thickness, species, canopy shape, leaf age, nutrient status, and water status.   The camera systems carried aloft by the Im VII captures leaf chlorophyll data and the preferential absorption at near-infrared wavelengths.

 Understanding leaf reflectance has lead to various vegetative indices for crop canopies to quantify various agronomic parameters; such as leaf area, crop cover, biomass, crop type, nutrient status, and yield. Emittance from crop canopies is a measure of leaf temperature and infrared sensors have fostered crop stress indices currently used to quantify water requirements.

Airborne remote sensing using the Im VII is a valuable agronomic tool that provides real-time, on demand information to precision agriculture consultants and producers about the status of their crops.  The Im VII platform and sensors are able to achieve spatial resolution on the order of sub-meter and less with a higher spectral resolution than available by satellites.  Because the Im VII can fly directly over the target field and below cloud cover, the platform is to capture higher quality images at a revisit frequency not attainable by satellites or manned aircraft.