ARDA Project - The UXAV 02, EHD Flight research facility

UXAV 02
Unmanned eXperimental Aerial Vehicle
Advanced Reduced Drag Aircraft project
By Jean-Louis Naudin
created on June 27th, 1999 - JLN Labs - Last update July 5th, 1999

The UXAV 02, the EHD flight research facility, is one of the most important part of the ARDA Project. The purpose is to do some tests and measurements about the EHD effects in real flight conditions with an UXAV (Unmanned eXperimental Aerial Vehicle aka experimental UAV). For this, I have used a special R/C aircraft with a full EHD wing (covered by an aluminum foil) placed above the avionic systems and special electronic equipments (the 30 kV High voltage generator for the EHD system, a Vz transponder, a video camera, a GPS...).

Special thanks to Daniel Sorre and Jean-Louis Lieben for their help about this project.

FIRST TEST FLIGHT of the UXAV 02 on June 26th, 1999

The purpose of this first real test flight was to perform and validate the model in real flight conditions (the 30kV High Voltage generator was not yet installed). The test flight has been done on a small french airfield on June 26th, 1999, afternoon. Due to the stormy and rainy weather, only one test has been done sucessfuly between two thunderstorms...