Hyderabad, Oct 16 (Representative) An initiative of Telangana government, T-Works on Thursday said that it has successfully designed, developed, and tested its indigenous Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), covering 45 km in 33 minutes. T-Works among the few organisations in the country at present that can design, fabricate, integrate, and operate long range VTOL hybrid drones. The airframe and its components were designed and fabricated by T-Works, using software design tools, 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC routing machines currently available at the Phase-0 facility in Begumpet in the city, T-works said in a release here.
The Airborne Medical Rapid Transport (AMRT25), with a 2.5m wingspan, is a hybrid UAV – launching and landing vertically like a conventional drone and then flying forward like a conventional winged aircraft. The VTOL motors are powered by a 10,000mAh battery and forward flight is powered by a 30cc gasoline engine. A winged aircraft consumes up to 75 percent less power than a conventional multi-rotor since the wings help produce the additional buoyant force. The AMRT design can carry much heavier payloads over much larger distances. The next version will have a range of 100 km with a payload capacity of 3.5kg. Added to this, a 5m x 5m flat clearing is sufficient to safely launch and land the AMRT25. This design uses the advantages of VTOL and fixed wing configurations.
Apart from medical supplies delivery, the AMRT25 UAV can be used for surveying, inspection, defence applications, surveillance, and as a testbed for experimental payloads. It completed over 30 test flights over the course of a week passing various parameters such as maximum range, endurance, waypoint navigation, and return-to-launch capabilities. The tools used for designing and constructing the UAV are also now available for the community to use and build UAV airframes or any other prototypes. Over 150 parts have been fabricated and delivered through the platform already, the release said.