MARAAL: A Low Altitude Long Endurance Solar Powered UAV for Surveillance and Mapping Applications

Abstract

This paper constitutes the detailed design, fabrication and flight tests of MARAAL: A low altitude long endurance UAV to be operated day-night in a subtropical region.The Solar UAV prototype fabricated at Unmanned Aerial Laboratory IIT Kanpur has a wing span of 5.35m, maximum endurance of 16 hours and a maximum payload capacity of 6 kgs. A detailed conceptual design process is established with a set of constraints which are used to generate parameters for 6DOF simulation. Developments in solar cell encapsulation process ensure a superior aerodynamic performance. The paper also highlights the construction efforts and details of the hardware and onboard electronics including surveillance equipment.