Research and Development [R&D]

By RDL – A project to make fleets of Autogyros (controllable by a pilotless “Mother Hawk”) all able to be flown pilotlessly. RDL will choose names, perhaps Gavin Sport [GS], Gavin Hawk [GH] and Gavin Super Hawk [GSH] to distinguish among three different models.  The Gavin Sports, Gavin Hawks and Mother Hawks may all be adapted from existing systems for pilotless military aircraft such as the RQ-4A/B Global Hawk, as developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC).  (BTW: Gavin is a new version of an old name, “Gawain”, Welsh for “White Hawk”.  See:  http://pweb.jps.net/~sangreal/whw.htm )

(See also: http://en.edia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman, http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/global_hawk.htm, http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/global/, and http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel3/62/11188/00533750.pdf.)

In this case, RDL’s initial emphasis is on the ability of an autogyro to:

1.      Take off, vertically

2.      Carrying two, four or six people, and their baggage, to a

3.      Selected destination

4.      Land, vertically

5.      Allow passengers to debark and, later,

6.      Convey them back to their departure point, or to

7.      One or more other destinations, as requested, or

8.      Loop back to 4., above, until return to base requested, else

9.      Land again vertically and

10. Allow them passengers to debark with luggage, again

11.  All ordered, probably, vocally!

12.  All without a pilot on board.

Designs Based on the Global Hawk  --

1.      The material below is background to the Global Hawk.  RDL is considering the Global Hawk, with modifications, to act as fleets of pilotless “Mother Hawks” in control of more fleets of pilotless autogyros, ie Gavins, much as a “control tower” at an airport but not just for landing and taking off, but each Mother Hawk in control of an area, eg 47k square miles and all of the pilotless, passenger-carrying, or non-passenger-carrying autogyros operating in that area.

2.      The UK contains 94k square miles with 60,776,238 million people. Or, 647 people/square-mile, an average close to one person/acre. Type 24/7 control requires two Mother Hawks, constantly in the air over the UK. Six Mother Hawks, on three eight-hour shifts/day, each controlling 47k square-miles (half of UK’s area) would be desirable. If we begin with one pilotless autogyro/square-mile available; one, on average, for every 647 people, we would have 47k Gavins in the each of the two assigned areas of UK (94k including the two areas). With, perhaps, one in 50 in flight during the day (9400) and one in 200 at some time in the night (2350). They would be carrying about 3.76k people during the day and 0.94k during the night. Based on 100 mile-average-trips, at an average of 250 mph, there would be in the air, on average, 0.4 hours/trip, ie for 376 hours/twelve-hour day, at a rate of 31.3 trips per hour, a fairly light work-load.

1.      RDL is also considering Global Hawk as a basis for: a) some factors to be installed in quite different pilotless autogyros (Gavins) and b) modified, not for military espionage, but to collect constantly up-to-date data to improve over Google Earth (or combined with it) for accurate, up-to-date maps of surface, ships, roads, road traffic, aircraft, (current Gavin’s: positions, routes, altitudes, speeds, diagnoses of condition, departures and destinations, owners, dispatchers), and histories of autogyros registered for unpiloted trips.  This modified Global Hawk, as Mother Hawk, could oversee and check all matters connected with registration of planned voyages and the operation of Gavins, and also transmit observations to the Gavins (See: below.) and to ground, ship, and satellite-based centres.

2.      Operation of pilotless craft requires more safeguards than piloted ones, simply because evil malefactors are more willing to kill others, rather than they are to practice kamikaze as well.  RDL has considered this principle in the design and operation of Mother Hawks, to monitor and control passenger-carrying and non-passenger-carrying Gavins.  The basic technology for this is compartmentalized. Ie no single person, small group or any agency will be allowed to have all the technology needed to hijack a Gavin or a Mother Hawk.

3.      Three versions of pilotless, vertically capable, Gavins– are styled on both the Global Hawk and Spaceship. They are: designed to carry: a) up to two people [Gavin Sport, GS], b) up to four people [Gavin Hawk, GH] or c) up to six people [Gavin Super Hawk, GSH]. 

4.      Gavins are modelled on the Global Hawk’s arrangement of major components, especially if propelled by a jet engine as opposed to propeller.  However, they are not supersonic or meant to operate in jet streams or at over 30k feet. ie over the highest mountains on Earth. So, the wings will probably be shorter and wider, tapered toward the tips and swept back.  Propeller driven models will probably carry the propeller at the extreme rear tip, just like the jet exhaust.

5.      Gavins will all have rotors on top, and equipped with tip-weights, tip-jets and tip-rockets, to rotate the rotor, instead of by autorotation when needed to land or takeoff, vertically.  The rotor blades will be sharp-edged (such as a North American Aviation P-51’s (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-51_Mustang) wing, on both forward and aft edges, with the same shape on both top and bottom. The angle of attack of the blades and their extendable flaps of both blades and wings, at different speeds through the air, can be adjusted to control how much lift and drag are generated, ie for more lift at low speed and for less drag at high speed.

6.      Openings will be provided on the edges of both blades a) for admitting oxygen for combustion of hydrogen fuel in mid-wing-edges and b) exhaust ports near the tips. In both cases, the openings can be closed to fair the blade for operation in autorotation mode, or as a wing. An opposing blade of the two-bladed rotor will be reversible to permit the rotor to stop rotating and lock the reversible blade into a position opposite the other blade, or both blades swept back. So, when carried forward through the air, both blades will provide: a) low drag at high speeds (ie up to subsonic speeds), and b) lift, if chosen, by adjusting the angle of attack and/or extending the flaps to land or takeoff on short runways (100 to 250 feet long, dependent on wind conditions and direction), without needing power-driven-rotation, nor autorotation, of the rotor.

7.      For emergency, or urgent, automatic-takeoff-and-landing systems [AETLS, AUTLS], can use tip-rockets on the rotor blades to rotate the rotor.  Enough rocket fuel is carried to takeoff and land twice, or land and takeoff twice, in either order.  The tip-rockets are inspected and tested, after each cycle (two takeoffs and landings in any order) to assure that they are dependable for use on another cycle, before approved for another flight. The on-board emergency system, AETLS, can be programmed to launch automatically to take off or land, as appropriate, safely, if operation in an unsafe way is attempted.  An urgent, AUTLS, use can be invoked by either qualified-on-board-pilot-in-charge, if any is aboard, or by the Mother Hawk in control at the time.

RDL, for Gavin Sports, Gavin Hawks and Gavin Super Hawks, is considering this shape (above) for the passenger compartment, but with the wings below the centreline, with light, retractable, out rigged, stabilizing wheels, less than seven feet apart, similar to the Global Hawk below. Outboard of the wheels, the wings are foldable so that Gavins can each be stored in a seven-feet-wide compartment below decks on a car park, an autogyro-carrier-railcar, an autogyro-carrier-truck-trailer, or in your garage at home. The decorative, circle motifs will be dropped, using a pointed-bullet-type, clear canopy in front, but keeping the circular hatch behind the pilot/observer position, for passenger entry. 

The Global Hawk – by Northrop Grumman Corporation

Notes on Global Hawk – Additions by GE in italics.

1.      The Global Hawk (has) successfully participated in a series of exercises with the RAAF, the Royal Australian Navy and the US Navy -- Guinness World Records has recognised the flight as the longest (13,840 km, 15,927 miles) by a full-scale unmanned aircraft.

2.    In August 2003, Global Hawk -- became the first UAV to receive authorisation from the US Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] to fly in national airspace.

3.      Unmanned Reconnaissance Capability -- Global Hawk can carry out reconnaissance missions in all types of operations. The 14,000 nm, (ie 16,111 miles), range and 42-hour endurance of the air vehicle, combined with satellite and line-of-sight communication links to ground forces, permits worldwide operation of the system.

4.      High-resolution sensors, including visible and infrared electro-optical systems and synthetic aperture radar -- will conduct surveillance over an area of 40,000 nm² (nautical miles squared, say, 200 nautical miles on a side) to an altitude of 65,000 ft in 24 hours.

5.      Six Global Hawk demonstrator vehicles have been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan since 2002 and Operation Iraqi Freedom since 2003, completing over 4,300 combat hours.

6.      Flight and Navigation Control -- The vehicle's flight control, vehicle management software and navigation functions are managed by two Integrated Mission Management Computers (IMMC) developed by Vista Controls Corporation, California. The IMMC  (these are not Roman numbers) integrates data from the navigation system and uses Kalman filtering algorithms.

7.      The prime navigation and control system consists of two KN-4072 INS/GPS (Inertial Navigation System / Global Positioning System) systems supplied by Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation of Wayne, New Jersey.

8. "The Global Hawk has a 14,000 nm range and 42-hour endurance."

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