Not long ago, in the rescue operation of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, the "Pterodactyl" UAV attracted much attention. It carries reconnaissance and communication payloads to carry out disaster reconnaissance and communication relay tasks, providing a strong communication guarantee for rescue in disaster areas.
The Pterodactyl-2H emergency disaster response drone was dispatched to the earthquake-stricken area to carry out emergency disaster response tasks.
"After more than ten years of development, 'Pterodactyl' has achieved competition with world powers from technological innovation, product innovation to industrial innovation. Li Yidong, deputy general manager of AVIC (Chengdu) UAV Systems Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as AVIC UAV), said.
Today, the "Pterodactyl" series of UAVs have the ability to perform communications, detection, reconnaissance, delivery and other tasks, and have become a new qualitative force for major emergency rescue.
1. The "Pterodactyl" series of UAVs has initially formed a pedigree
On December 20, on the big screen of the earthquake relief command hall in Jishishan County, the disaster picture of the Pterodactyl-2H emergency disaster response drone reconnaissance was displayed in real time. Images and data are connected up and down, landslide locations are accurately located, and search and rescue images are transmitted back in real time.
"The Pterodactyl-2H emergency response UAV sets up a communication relay station in the air, so that the mobile signal has the characteristics of long-term, stable and continuous, and can cover an area of about 50 square kilometers. Li He, the flight supervisor of AVIC UAV who performed the task at the scene, said that the Pterodactyl-2H emergency disaster response UAV is a derivative of the "Pterodactyl" series of products, which is mainly used for disaster exploration, emergency communication support, emergency delivery, etc.
Pterodactyl-2H emergency response drone
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is short for Unmanned Aircraft. It is operated by radio-controlled devices and its own program, and can also be operated autonomously by the on-board computer completely or intermittently.
There are many types of drones. From a technical point of view, it can be divided into unmanned fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned vertical take-off and landing aircraft, unmanned airships, unmanned helicopters, unmanned multi-rotor aircraft, unmanned paragliders, etc. From the powertrain definition, there are gasoline and battery drones. According to the take-off weight, mission radius, flight speed, and altitude, it can be divided into large, medium and micro UAVs.
"Different types of UAVs have different application scenarios, different design ideas, reliability and cost. Li Yidong said.
In 1917, the United States developed the world's first unmanned aerial vehicle. In the following 100 years, with the emergence of new technologies such as power and radio commands, analog data links, inertial navigation, and avionics, UAV technology has been continuously iteratively updated: from the need to be carried into the air by transport aircraft, recovered and only fly level, to the ability to automatically take off and land according to the plan, and complete complex actions, from low speed, low endurance, short range, to high-speed, medium and high altitude, long endurance and long range.
The "Pterodactyl" series is a large fixed-wing UAV.
In November 2012, at the 9th Zhuhai Air Show, the first prototype of the "Pterodactyl" was unveiled, which was named the Pterodactyl-1.
Since then, the "Pterodactyl" family has continued to grow, and many of them are star models at the international advanced level. For example, the Pterodactyl-2 is the first large-scale UAV equipped with a domestic turboprop power system in the mainland, which was developed in 2015 and made its first flight in 2017. Its aerodynamic layout, airframe structure and airborne system are advanced, and the technical indicators are close to the world's most advanced similar UAVs. In particular, it has a super autonomy.
Pterodactyl-2 UAV
On November 28 this year, in Sichuan Zigong Aviation Industrial Park, Pterodactyl-2 completed a flight demonstration at AVIC's UAV production test flight base.
On the same day, the Pterodactyl-2 carried payloads such as an optoelectronic pod and synthetic aperture radar and took off as ordered.
According to the predetermined plan, autonomous short take-off and landing, high-speed liftoff, low-altitude hovering, and "8" flying around the ...... A series of maneuvers are flexible and precise in control. The high-definition photoelectric pod under the nose of the aircraft is like a sharp eye, and the recognized high-definition picture is transmitted back in real time, and the farther the range, the wider the recognition range.
"Low-altitude hovering and '8' flying and other actions require extremely high response speed and stability of the flight system, and the Pterodactyl-2 combined with a high-resolution optoelectronic system can take 360-degree shots of the scene. Zhang Yue, the commander-in-chief of the Pterodactyl-2 flight show, said.
"It can be said that after more than ten years of development, the 'Pterodactyl' series of UAVs have initially formed a pedigree. Li Yidong said.
2. Break through key technologies to create a multi-purpose machine
"The 'Pterodactyl' UAV is a serialized, medium-altitude long-endurance, multi-purpose UAV based on the existing technology, boldly breaking through the core technology, and self-developed. Li Yidong said.
In the past 11 years, "Pterodactyl" has not stopped innovating.
Today, there is a wide variety of models of the Pterodactyl UAV. In 2018, the "Pterodactyl" UAV won the 5th China Industry Award, and its technical indicators reached the world's advanced level.
With the increasingly fierce competition in the world UAV market, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) reviewed the situation and made the strategic decision of "building a professional national team in the mainland UAV industry", and reorganized and established AVIC UAV in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on December 25, 2018, focusing on building a leading and world-class high-end UAV industry base in China.
One of the important symbols of "becoming stronger and bigger" is to make the "Pterodactyl" better quality and more versatile. While developing new models, AVIC UAVs have also begun to explore "one machine for multiple purposes".
"In the civilian field, we have taken the lead in the exploration and innovation of the application of UAVs in the fields of large emergency, meteorology and security, providing scientific and technological support for improving people's livelihood and well-being. Yang Hanru, deputy director of the UAV market development department of AVIC, said.
Only the Pterodactyl-2 series, in addition to the Pterodactyl-2H emergency disaster response type that carried out the disaster relief mission in Gansu this time, there is also the Pterodactyl-2H meteorological type.
In March 2019, in order to solve the problem of ecological restoration in the Qilian Mountains, Gansu Province took the lead in exploring and launching large-scale unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to artificially modify the weather. They set their sights on Pterodactyl-2.
Traditional large-area weather modification operations mostly use manned and machine broadcasting. A manned aircraft carries a catalyst and flies into the clouds to spread the catalyst.
There are many safety risks in this way. "The clouds that meet the conditions for catalytic operation, and the low internal temperature, can easily cause the aircraft to freeze in the air. After icing, the aircraft itself will be aggravated, and there will be aerodynamic shape changes, ice and stagnation of the control rudder surface, etc., which will have great potential safety hazards. Li Yidong said.
Drones are a good way to avoid these hidden dangers.
However, avoiding aircraft icing has been one of the key challenges in aircraft design to date.
"If it freezes, it can lead to the disaster of drone damage. Li Yidong said.
To this end, Li Yidong led the project team and cooperated with a number of scientific research institutes and universities to jointly develop an anti-icing system.
After several rounds of theoretical analysis, laboratory model verification, material technology and construction technology, the anti-de-icing system was finally officially loaded on the Pterodactyl-2.
Wang Delin, a member of the flight test team, recalled that the theory and model verification were successful, but the flight test always went wrong. "In Jinchang, Gansu Province, the field test flight verification was carried out, and the UAV repeatedly showed the phenomenon that the anti-de-icing system was uncontrolled in the air. Wang Delin said. For example, after landing, the wings of the drone have problems such as bulging wings and small areas of coating burning.
Li Yidong led the team members to overcome difficulties, they overcame various unfavorable factors, temporarily set up a test environment, and carried out tests day and night to conduct failure analysis. After many times of trial and error, the crux of the problem was finally found. It turned out that static electricity in the clouds affected the normal operation of the de-icing system. After 10 months of development, the systems of the Pterodactyl-2H meteorological UAV met the design requirements and were delivered.
Pterodactyl-2H meteorological UAV
"The use of large UAVs to carry out weather modification operations has filled the gap of artificial rain enhancement of large UAVs in China, which is a cutting-edge technology in the world and has greatly improved the ability of weather modification operations. At the first flight ceremony of the day, Yu Yong, deputy director of the China Meteorological Administration, said.
Such innovative stories abound in the exploration of the multi-purpose of the "Pterodactyl".
The successful exploration of a multi-purpose machine has made the "Pterodactyl" a versatile body.
3. Diversified deployment to meet different needs
The variety of "pterodactyls", the application scenarios are constantly enriched.
At 15:24:56 on January 6, 2021, at Jinchuan Airport, Jinchang City, Gansu Province, the Pterodactyl-2H meteorological drone named "Ganlin-I" took off. The ground control system shows that the functions of the UAV anti-de-icing, atmospheric detection, catalyst dissemination and other functions are normal, the system is stable, and the performance meets the requirements of the project.
After several operations of "Ganlin-I", the rain and snow in Qilian Mountain increased significantly.
At this time, the "pterodactyl" turned the clouds into rain.
On July 21, 2021, Zhengzhou experienced heavy rainfall, and Gongyi City, which is under its jurisdiction, became the hardest hit area by flooding. In Mihe Town, Gongyi City, due to the destruction of the signal tower, communication was interrupted, and the whole town lost contact.
In the face of the surging floods, the dilemma of "network disconnection" and "power outage" was deeply involved, and the entire Mihe Town was shrouded in a silent fear.
Just when the villagers were at a loss, the mobile phone suddenly received a "strange" text message: "Villagers in Mihe Town, due to the heavy rain caused by the interruption of communication, the Ministry of Emergency Management urgently dispatched a Pterodactyl drone to arrive over your town, which can temporarily restore China Mobile's public network communication...... The recovery time is only five hours! Please report the situation and contact your family as soon as possible. Peace be upon you!"
The mobile phone, which had been "out of order", was "lit up" again, and the communication network was magically restored!
This is a new way of emergency communication, that is, the drone carries the base station pod to build an emergency communication platform in the air. Emergency communications have been restored within 50 square kilometres of Mihe town.
At this time, the "Pterodactyl" turned into an air communication base station.
On November 27, 2021, in the South China Sea, the Meteorological Exploration Center of the China Meteorological Administration, together with more than 10 units including aviation industry, conducted a UAV-based sea, land and air collaborative observation test.
At 9 o'clock on the same day, with the "flying" command from the walkie-talkie, the Pterodactyl-10, which was equipped with millimeter-wave cloud radar and satellite occultation/sea anti-detection system, took off into the sky. After dozens of minutes of flight, the test UAV arrived at the mission airspace and, together with space-based, sea-based, and shore-based meteorological observation instruments, carried out coordinated observation of meteorological elements such as cloud system, temperature and humidity profile distribution, and sea surface wind field over the ocean.
On the UAV meteorological support service command and dispatch platform, technicians are very excited to look at the groups of test data transmitted back in real time on the screen: "These data are almost impossible to obtain with conventional meteorological detection methods. ”
The test was a complete success, and the mainland has taken an important step towards the goal of building a space-based observation system with UAVs as the main body.
At this time, the "Pterodactyl" became the "wind chaser" who bravely fought the typhoon.
On June 28 this year, the national-level mobile observation service was launched in Zigong City, Sichuan Province.
At the launching ceremony, two types of high-altitude large UAVs for meteorological detection were delivered, and the first flight of refined vertical detection of meteorology on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was successfully realized.
The two types of meteorological detection high-altitude large UAVs are the first developed by the mainland specifically for meteorological detection missions, and are based on the basic platforms of the Pterodactyl-2 and Pterodactyl-10 UAVs respectively. One of them is aimed at high-altitude missions, and the other is aimed at ocean-based missions. Both types of UAVs can be equipped with weather radar pods and multispectral analyzers and other equipment, with the characteristics of long range, flight duration, large carrying capacity, strong environmental adaptability, etc., which can provide breakthrough solutions for key tasks such as marine meteorological target observation, plateau meteorological detection, mobile observation of major meteorological disasters and meteorological satellite authenticity inspection.
At this time, at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the "pterodactyl" became the "eye of the sky".
Since the completion of the first flight of large-scale UAV scientific research in 2019, the "Pterodactyl" series has been busy with flight tasks. The first large-scale unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weather modification operation and meteorological detection were carried out in Sanjiangyuan, and the debris flow disaster rescue in Datong County was participated in Qinghai, the opening ceremony of the "Universiade" was provided in Sichuan, and meteorological detection was carried out on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau......
Fleet of UAVs of the "Pterodactyl" series
4. Integrate new technologies to expand application scenarios
In March this year, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the List of World-class Demonstration Enterprises and Specialized and New Demonstration Enterprises", and AVIC UAV was among them.
In 2022, AVIC UAV will be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board.
"Our goal is to be a leading and world-class leader in the UAV industry in China. Yang Ping, secretary of the board of directors of AVIC UAV, said.
"In order to comply with the development of domestic and foreign markets, we are also developing UAVs of less than 1 ton. Considering market demand, technological development and other factors, there will be more diverse types of UAV products in the future. Li Yidong said that looking to the future, UAV technology will undoubtedly develop in the direction of high-end intelligence, from remote control, program control to fully autonomous control.
"In the future, drones will be 'smarter'. Li Yidong said that in the process of target recognition, situational awareness, mission planning and management, and autonomous flight, it can even achieve intelligent maintenance. At the same time, the development of UAVs in the direction of low cost, high yield, new energy technology, high altitude and near space, and ultra-long endurance will undoubtedly enable UAVs to create many new formats.
In the next step, there will be a newer generation of drones, such as tiltrotors. "Compared with traditional UAVs, the next-generation tiltrotor can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, saving floor space, and at the same time, it can also cruise quickly like a fixed-wing aircraft after takeoff, which can be applied to long-distance logistics transportation and manned flights in the future. Li Yidong said.
"In addition to the application exploration in the fields of emergency rescue and meteorological services, we will also combine the development of new technologies such as 5G + industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, and big data in the future, and work with the whole industry chain to promote the efficient application of drones in more fields, such as scientific research, surveying and mapping, logistics, etc. Li Yidong said.
For the application scenarios of UAVs in the future, Li Yidong looked forward to it.
In his opinion, drones will be used to provide data services in the future. "Using drones as aerial data ports, data collection, transmission, storage, extraction, analysis and display are carried out for different industries, providing users with more accurate and powerful data flow services. Li Yidong said that this function will be used in environmental monitoring and law enforcement, fire protection, pipeline monitoring, road monitoring, intelligent air traffic, border inspection, disaster detection, petrochemical air pollution, meteorological detection and other scenarios.
In the new format, drone rental services will also appear in the future. "Professional operating institutions provide professional leasing and operation services to various application industries. Li Yidong said.
The ecological chain of the expansion of the "Pterodactyl" family is independent and controllable.
Li Yidong said that from the beginning of development, the "Wing Loong" series of UAVs have been rooted in the mainland's aviation industry and even the mainland's overall science and technology, industry foundation, and the relevant core technologies are in their own hands. Our current technology, manufacturing industry chain and innovation capabilities are enough to support and ensure the market demand of the "Wing Loong" series of UAVs.
The ever-changing "Pterodactyl" spreads the wings of a great country. Towards the set goal, the "Pterodactyl" family, spread its wings, and constantly change its attitude and formation, towards the deep sky, free flight.
Editor/Tan Weiping