Gradient-Based Optimization of Solar-Regenerative High-Altitude Long-Endurance Aircraft

What is it about?

Solar-regenerative high-altitude long-endurance (SR-HALE) aircraft have the potential to provide capabilities similar to satellites in the areas of surveillance, communication, and environmental monitoring at a fraction of the cost. We show how gradient-based optimization can be used to efficiently optimize SR-HALE aircraft while accounting for the effects of significant aircraft flexibility. We also perform several parameter sweeps using this optimization framework to determine the design's sensitivity to altitude, latitude, battery specific energy, solar efficiency, avionics and payload power requirements, and minimum design velocity.

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