Can an onboard Thermal Recognition System assist UAVs Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with extended range and flight times? Can such a system save fuel and assist in the operational mission requirements? Who would use such a system? Would the use of such technology and additional sensors significantly increase the range and fuel efficiency to make up for the weight of the system itself?

For those of us who have flown gliders, we know that a good up draft or thermal can allow us better lift and thus allow us to fly without power for much longer. If a UAV has a good glide ratio like the Global Hawk, powered glider or a Pathfinder type UAV then the answer would be a resounding. YES! In fact knowing where the thermals are and flying towards them can help increase elevation without adding power or causing additional rates of fuel to attain altitude.

NASA is working on a glider, which senses thermals and can catch heat plumes rising from the Earth. Most glider pilots know that if you follow roads there is heat coming off them and if you fly over water there is generally a down draft. Moral of the story for a glider pilot is to use this knowledge to extend your flight. Think of a fully autonomous UAV which steers itself towards the color-coded thermal imaging on board system to catch the most beneficial heated air for updrafts. The UAV would be programmed to know hotter air, equates to updrafts and thus assist in its range and flight time.

Who discovered this? Well a hobby pilot and NASA tech man, Michael Allen, discovered thru his hobby of flying radio controlled model gliders and studies in UAVs. It makes perfectly good sense.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html

And it has some incredible future advantages for UAV increased performance. Think about what this means. Small UAVs could extend their endurance for an hour or more, while larger UAVs adding an hour with flight speeds of 120-200 knots means extending the range to 120 to 200 nautical miles. Also for planetary exploration this means that light weight UAVs can remain aloft for extremely long periods, by simply flying over hot spots or thermals.