“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.

Airborne Scientific Payload Platform

The Im VII is the solution for your airborne scientific payload requirements.  It features an airframe that absorbs rough handling, requires no runway and is 100% electric powered.  The Im VII offers the highest lift, greatest endurance and most rugged airframe for any unmanned systems in its size class. 

High Lift.  The Im VII is the lift leader for its class.  The high-lift airfoil designed specifically for the Im VII allows you to carry the greatest amount of payload without the need for a runway and heavy wet-fuel engines.  Launch and land in a small clearing close to your mission site using quiet electric power.  Get to altitude quickly and allow the wing do the work of the heavy lifting.

Airborne Persistence. The all-wing design of the Im VII eliminates the parasitic drag and excess weight found on conventional aircraft.  One hundred percent of the Im VII is dedicated to lift. You can carry your scientific instruments and sensors aloft longer using the Im VII than in any other platform on the market today.

Impact Tolerant.  Field conditions are never perfect and anyone with experience will tell you that the life expectancy of a conventional small UAS in the field can be short.  We have eliminated the two most vulnerable areas, the fuselage and the tail group, and constructed the Im VII out of light-weight, energy dissipating materials.  In situations where other small UAS break, the Im VII simply bounces and is ready for another flight.