Solar Technology Comparison for Wing Integration in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are expanding in both military and commercial markets. Most UAVs are limited in flight duration and due in part to the weight of energy storage. Solar cells integrated into the wing surface can provide additional power dependent on the sun, weight, wing area, and efficiency. NRL has built a variety of wings for UAVs from solar cell technologies which include Si, thin flexible GaAs, triple junction InGaP/GaAs/Ge, and Inverted Metamorphic MultiJunction (IMM) for comparison. NRL has flown these solar technologies demonstrating flights in excess of 10 hrs with only 4 hrs of onboard energy storage. This paper intends to provide a side-by-side comparison of these technologies for design and cost considerations on mission feasibility.