Enhanced Endurance of a Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using High Efficiency Si and III-V Solar Cells

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly growing in both military and commercial markets. One shortfall of UAVs is the amount of time they can fly, being limited by the energy storage. Solar cells can be integrated into the wing surface to provide additional power, dependent on the sun, weight, wing area, and efficiency. NRL is building a UAV with wings from a variety of solar cell technologies, which includes high efficiency Si, thin flexible GaAs, triple junction InGaP/GaAs/Ge, and Inverted Metamorphic Multi-Junction (IMM) for direct comparison and to improve flight endurance. The UAV also incorporates the necessary power management system required to maximize the solar power available. In addition to solar cells, this plane can also utilize thermal updrafts to soar. Flight data is provided which includes all electrical parameters for comparison studies.