Ballistic emergency Parachute system for SUAV (German)

Abstract

The objective of this project was to develop and build a backup safety system for small UAV. It consists of a parachute, a solid fuel rocket, a parachute and rocket container and a simple activation electronic. In the case of an emergency or out of control situation the UAV operator or an additional electronic device, which is not part of this work, can activate the system. After activation the following steps will take place: an electronic fuse ignites and fires the rocket, which extracts a parachute packed in a parachute opening device (POD), when line stretch is achieved the parachute leaves the POD and opens. This activation method makes this parachute system suitable for slow flying drones such as copters. The container was designed in Catia V5 and manufactured by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), the parachute was sewn. The electronic device demodulates a PWM signal and activates the electronic fuse depending on the pulse width of the signal. Via analytical formulae the drag force of the parachute was calculated. The main aim was to develop and build a system, which increases the operation safety for UAV of approximately 2kg takeoff weight. To validate this goal, in the final project phase, a successful deployment with a quadrocopter was carried out.

Nikolaus Kurcz

Textile Aeronautics Consultant

My research interests include technical textiles, especially parachutes and paragliders.