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The University of Southampton
Engineering

Phoenix pseudo-satellite awarded Team Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society

Published: 21 December 2020
Team Phoenix

A pioneering ultra-long-endurance aircraft created by an engineering consortium including the University of Southampton has been recognised with a Team Bronze Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Team Phoenix designed and built the world’s first large variable-buoyancy-powered uninhabited aerial vehicle (UAV) for use as an atmospheric satellite in telecommunications.

The novel design transitions between heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air flight to move without conventional propulsion.

Team Phoenix successfully completed multiple test flights during the three-year project powered by a solar-powered rechargeable battery created under the guidance of Southampton’s Professor Andrew Cruden and Associate Professor Dr Richard Wills.

This winter’s Royal Aeronautical Society honour recognises the team’s notable contributions to the advancement of aerospace art, science and engineering.

The Phoenix project team included skill and expertise from UK universities, companies and innovation centres, with support from the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and Innovate UK.

The 15m-long helium-filled UAV inhales and compresses air within an internal bladder to make it heavier than air, and exhales that compressed air to return to lighter than air.

The UAV’s airship-like design includes a 10.5m wingspan, with its fuselage made from a vectran-based woven material containing around 120m3 of helium.

The Southampton-designed battery pack is charged by an array of lightweight, flexible solar cells distributed on the upper surfaces of the wings and horizontal tail.

Professor Cruden, Head of Energy Technology Group, says: “The University of Southampton team within the School of Engineering developed a specific lithium-ion battery pack for this UAV, capable of operation across the wide range of temperatures found at altitude, and communicating the status of the pack to the automatic flight control system.

“The battery is designed to capture and store sufficient energy from the flexible photovoltaic arrays to power the UAV during the hours of darkness, with a safety margin for periods of poor weather and emergency use.

“It is anticipated this unique UAV will provide a substantially lower cost route to providing long endurance, zero emission pseudo-satellites for communication, surveillance and humanitarian missions around the globe.”

“Project Phoenix recognised the requirement to assemble and manage a truly  interdisciplinary engineering team, covering flight control systems, aeronautics, materials, lightweight structures, novel flexible solar photovoltaics and energy management, and this Award clearly evidences the advances and successes that can be achieved by collaborative R&D.”

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