{"id":373865,"date":"2022-05-13T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?post_type=selected&p=373865"},"modified":"2022-05-13T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:30:00","slug":"droneteam-twente-unveils-new-aid-drone","status":"publish","type":"selected","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/selected\/droneteam-twente-unveils-new-aid-drone\/","title":{"rendered":"DroneTeam Twente unveils new aid drone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The student team DroneTeam Twente unveiled their newest drone to the\u00a0world: Thunderbird. The drone is designed for efficient medical aid delivery and uses an unique wing design that improves efficiency. With the aircraft, the team will compete against\u00a0more than thirty other teams at the 2022 iMechE UAS\u00a0 Challenge, where the drone will carry\u00a0out a simulated rescue mission, writes the Univerisy of Twente in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2021-2022 team has been working since September to develop the new drone. Building upon previous years\u2019 drone Phoenix, Thunderbird is more efficient while carrying a package with a higher range of more than 30 kilometres. Philippe Damoiseaux, Technical manager of the team explains how the team achieved that: \u201cOne of our goals is innovating the drone industry. That is why this year we have developed a cutting-edge drone, with an unique design: the wing goes all around the main body. This is called a \u2018box-wing\u2019, and it decreases aerodynamic drag, but it\u2019s largely untested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bas Kluijtmans, aerodynamicist, adds: \u201cA crucial parameter for efficiency is the\u00a0lift-to-drag\u00a0ratio<\/em>: the higher this value, the more efficient your wings, meaning you can carry your\u00a0medical aid further and score more competition points. With the new design you can achieve\u00a0more lift and reduced wingtip vortices, as the front and back wings are connected. You can\u00a0also eliminate the horizontal stabiliser, decreasing drag further. The lowered drag also\u00a0means speed goes up: the new drone can reach a theoretical top speed of more than 120\u00a0km\/h.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lightweigth drone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With a maximum competition weight of ten kilograms including payload, weight is a key\u00a0issue for the team. In order to achieve the lowest mass possible, the team uses a completely\u00a03D-printed outer fuselage with an internal carbon frame. Shervin Tochani, structural engineer\u00a0of the team, explains how that works: \u201cWe use a special, foam-like plastic which we can\u00a0make just strong enough to withstand the aerodynamic load. Then, these structural loads are\u00a0transferred to the internal carbon frame with joints. This allows us to build a drone with a\u00a0wingspan of two metres and keep it at the weight of about a bowling ball.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UAS challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The competition the team is participating in this year is the iMechE UAS Challenge, taking\u00a0place from 6-8 July 2022. This is a yearly competition with the goal of encouraging drone\u00a0innovation, where 34 university teams compete with innovative drones and helicopters. In\u00a0the event, the drone will need to carry out a simulated disaster rescue mission by navigating,\u00a0locating and dropping a medical aid package to the right location while flying autonomously.\u00a0The more efficient your drone does this, the more points you score. This year the team\u2019s\u00a0goal is to finish in the podium positions, and bring back home a prize to\u00a0 Enschede.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time-sensitive deliveries <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

However, while winning the competition would be a huge achievement, DroneTeam Twente\u00a0aims to go further than that: \u201cWe want our drone innovations to be applied in the real world\u00a0for humanitarian purposes. That is why we are looking for applications together with NGOs\u00a0in rural areas such as sub-saharan Africa\u201d, Philippe explains. In these areas, medical aid is\u00a0hard to access. The roads are unsuitable for cars, or villages are not in the right location on\u00a0the map. This can lead to problems if, for example, an ambulance is needed. For this,\u00a0cheaper and more efficient drones are crucial. Thunderbird has been developed as a\u00a0low-cost alternative by using a 3D-printed body, which is easily and sustainably repaired.\u00a0Examples where drones could help are time-sensitive deliveries, which includes vaccines,\u00a0medicine and blood delivery. But drones can be used for more than that: \u201cIn the future,\u00a0autonomous drones could be commonplace, and we are trying to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div><\/div>
At the Unmanned Valley, the sky is the limit – or is it the wind?<\/div>
Despite a light marine breeze, the airspace over Valkenburg\u2019s former naval airbase is buzzing with drones.<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2084,"featured_media":514886,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":""},"categories":[8553],"tags":[9995,127693,3479,42797],"location":[6763],"internal_archives":[],"class_list":["post-373865","selected","type-selected","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-drone-en","tag-droneteam-twente","tag-imec-nl","tag-university-of-twente","location-netherlands"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":[],"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/20220330_140621.png","coauthors":[],"author_meta":{"author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/mauro-mereu\/","display_name":"Mauro Mereu"},"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 13, 2022","modified":"Updated on May 13, 2022"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 13, 2022 12:30 pm","modified":"Updated on May 13, 2022 12:30 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","tax_additional":{"category":{"linked":["Digital<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Digital<\/span>"],"slug":"category","name":"Categories"},"post_tag":{"linked":["drone<\/a>","DroneTeam Twente<\/a>","imec<\/a>","University of Twente<\/a>"],"unlinked":["drone<\/span>","DroneTeam Twente<\/span>","imec<\/span>","University of Twente<\/span>"],"slug":"post_tag","name":"Tags"},"language":{"linked":["EN<\/a>"],"unlinked":["EN<\/span>"],"slug":"language","name":"Tags"},"post_translations":{"linked":["pll_627e2bcf031ca<\/a>"],"unlinked":["pll_627e2bcf031ca<\/span>"],"slug":"post_translations","name":""},"location":{"linked":["Netherlands<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Netherlands<\/span>"],"slug":"location","name":"Locations"},"internal_archives":{"linked":[],"unlinked":[],"slug":"internal_archives","name":"Internal Archives"}},"series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected\/373865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/selected"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/selected"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373865"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=373865"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=373865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}