2023 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 45-50
Unmanned observation technologies such as Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) have been studied as a low-cost substitute for oceanographic observations previously conducted by manned ship. Many USVs have a long cruising time and a slow cruising speed, making them difficult to reach quickly to observation points. For this reason, we developed a flying boat type Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that has both the functions of the USV and the UAV. Two aircrafts with different specifications were developed to correspond to various observation methods and purposes. The HAMADORI 3000 has a wing span of approximately 3 m, weighs approximately 19 kg, and is able to fly for approximately two hours. The HAMADORI 6000 has a wing span of approximately 6 m, weighs approximately 100 kg, and is designed for approximately 8 hours of flight. Using the developed aircrafts, we operated them as USVs on the sea surface and conducted a flying experiment by take-off from sea. As a result of the experiment, neither aircrafts function without serious errors in regard to the set route. In addition, no divergence or other problems occurred in the wake when turning or straightening. Therefore, both aircrafts showed practicality to operate as USVs at sea. It was also shown that the aircrafts can be safely operated as UAVs when taking off from the sea by operating a function that immediately aborts the takeoff if the attitude of the aircrafts is disturbed. Based on these results, the developed fling boat type UAVs has can be practically used for cost-saving and high-frequency observations.
