Air hybrids for the Arctic: UAV developers talk about drones for ice reconnaissance and environmental monitoring in the Arctic

— At the recent international forum “Artika: Present and Future” held in St. Petersburg, Airburg JSC presented several types of drones designed to operate in the harsh conditions of our Arctic.

What are these samples of technology and at what stage is their development?

Sergey Evdokimov:

Our company has brought to the city on the Neva two models of UAVs - Phaeton and Hummingbird.

These machines can perform a wide range of tasks, but, as we expect, they will be in greater demand for the needs of the Northern Sea Route.

Phaeton is currently undergoing flight tests, which should be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2023.

Further, we plan to reach out to specific customers and refine the drone to their requirements.

Another model that could be seen in the Northern capital is the Hummingbird UAV.

The forum showed its layout.

This device, despite the name, will be very large, as it will be able to lift from 100 to 500 kg of payload into the air.

To date, our designers have decided on the conceptual appearance of the Hummingbird, but we have not started assembling the drone.

Our company plans to find an investor to build such a large machine.

• Model UAV "Hummingbird"

• © Personal archive

Another UAV in the Airburg lineup is the small-sized aerohybrid "Bee", which carries up to 4 kg of payload and has a flight radius of 70 km.

Such a device is necessary for monitoring at distances that are redundant for Phaeton.

- Does a person participate in the management of your devices?

Sergey Evdokimov:

Management is carried out through a mobile control terminal, made in the form of a tablet, but human intervention is practically not required.

The flight is carried out according to the loaded flight program.

If the operator wants to correct the flight, then a radio channel is used.

There is the possibility of using autonomous navigation systems, but this is a more complex and costly story.

— Your company is not the only company that is working on UAVs adapted for monitoring the Arctic spaces.

Where do you see your competitive advantage?

Sergei Evdokimov:

"Phaeton" and "Hummingbird" are aero hybrids, they combine the advantages of aircraft and helicopter-type UAVs.

Let me explain: the main advantage of the aircraft lies in the economy and the ability to cover long distances.

However, for its takeoff and landing, large equipped platforms are required.

The helicopter in this respect is unpretentious, but very expensive to operate.

"Phaeton" and "Hummingbird" are able to overcome considerable distances with a very modest fuel consumption.

Their power plant consists of a piston unit and electric motors that drive horizontal propellers.

Takeoff and landing are carried out with the help of blades, that is, in helicopter mode or copter mode, and horizontal flight - in an airplane way: due to a piston engine.

Helicopter mode allows vehicles to take off and land vertically on sites that are minimally equipped in terms of engineering.

Thus, the operator is relieved of the need to maintain runways or use sufficiently large ejection devices.

We do not deny that under certain conditions at high latitudes it is permissible to use helicopter and aircraft UAVs.

However, it should be understood that copters powered by lithium-ion batteries will be able to stay in the air for about an hour, while the NSR needs a flight of four to five hours.

It's no secret that landing is the hardest part of an aircraft flight.

In our devices, we tried to make this process as easy as possible.

Landing is carried out automatically thanks to a set of special algorithms.

— Do you have any fears that you will not be able to implement a hybrid power plant “in hardware” due to the still weak presence of domestic piston engines on the market?

Sergey Kuminov:

Indeed, there are not so many Russian aircraft piston engines at hand now.

This sector of the industry has not yet recovered from the degradation in the 1990s.

However, the situation is improving.

Currently, specialists from the Ural Plant of Civil Aviation (UZGA), the Central Institute of Aviation Motors named after P.I.

Baranov (CIAM), Ufa State Aviation Technical University (UGATU) and other organizations.

• UAV "Phaeton"

• © Personal archive

We are confident that in the coming years there will be many worthy examples of domestic piston engines on the Russian market.

After all, we develop civilian products and are not limited by the ability to purchase affordable foreign engines.

- Do I understand correctly that you see the key task of your UAVs in ice reconnaissance in the NSR?

Sergei Kuminov:

This applies primarily to Phaeton.

The machine can carry out monitoring at a distance of up to 200-250 km.

This is quite sufficient for an adequate assessment of the ice situation.

The main tasks of "Phaeton" are to identify hummocks and measure the thickness of the ice.

Heaps of ice fragments are detected using optics, and the thickness of the ice is determined using radar equipment.

The Phaeton's take-off weight is 56 kg, the operating speed range is 94-160 km/h, and the flight duration is four hours.

Instead of the traditional wheeled chassis, Phaeton is equipped with skids.

The device is able to land accurately, including on a swinging deck.

For this, only a platform of 5 × 5 m is needed.

In addition to the NSR, Phaeton, we believe, will be suitable for monitoring the environment in the Arctic.

Currently, the efforts of the state and private business are carrying out fairly large-scale research aimed at preserving the ecology and biodiversity of the Arctic.

Scientists cannot do without reliable and easy-to-use drones with good optical equipment.

I think that "Phaeton" will become a worthy assistant to environmentalists, forest protection and other services.

If we talk about Hummingbird, then we see its main purpose in the transport functionality.

It is suitable for the delivery of various cargoes to hard-to-reach areas and to NSR infrastructure facilities.

According to our calculations, loading and unloading operations will take no more than ten minutes.

The flight range of this machine will be 1 thousand km, cruising speed - 250 km / h.

— Do you take into account the fact that Russia maintains very strict legislation in the field of operation of civilian (commercial) drones?

Sergey Kuminov:

Of course, it is.

We are aware that the strictness of the current legislation is due to reasonable security considerations and the dampness of approaches to the opening of airspace, especially over populated areas.

However, our UAVs will be operated mainly over deserted areas.

In addition, experimental operation zones have been created in Russia, where technological solutions in the field of UAVs, algorithms for the use of unmanned vehicles are being developed, and rules for their certification are being developed.

It is likely that the NSR and other territories of our vast Arctic will also become zones of free use of UAVs for monitoring and transporting various cargoes.

• Piloting ships in the Arctic

• © Press service of USC JSC

- Do you have the opportunity to produce these devices in the conditions of sanctions and other restrictions?

Sergey Evdokimov:

UAV complexes are a new direction for us.

We decided to offer new products to our customers because we know how to create the necessary range of payloads ourselves and where to buy equipment that we cannot produce on our own for various reasons.

One of the key partners of our company is UZGA located in Yekaterinburg.

We supply our countrymen with the payload that they mount on their aircraft.

Now we are striving to expand our business, to occupy the niche of a supplier of drone systems for organizations and enterprises operating in the Arctic and the NSR.

Like other companies, we cannot rely only on our own resources and intend to rely primarily on technologies and products available on the domestic market.

For example, the fuselage and wing of Phaeton are made of Russian-made composite materials.

- Our ships have been sailing along the Northern Sea Route for 90 years - and all this time they have done without drones.

Maybe this technique is not so needed today?

Sergey Evdokimov:

Of course, it is possible to do without UAVs even now, but in this case, the operators of the NSR will have to put up with a number of inconveniences that significantly reduce the safety and speed of passage of ice-class ships and caravans led by an icebreaker.

Remember how many ships were stuck in the Arctic Ocean and Antarctica in the USSR.

Vessels were sometimes in ice captivity for several months.

Their crew was forced to endure a lot of hardships in anticipation of help and ice melting.

Jamming incidents continue to occur today.

So, in November last year, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe New Siberian Islands and the Vilkitsky Strait (eastern branch of the NSR. -

), six ships were in ice shackles.

These were motor ships Kumpula, Selenga, Vladimir Rusanov, Northern Project, Mechanic Pustoshny and Mikhail Somov.

The last ship on this list is known for being in the ice captivity of Antarctica for more than six months in 1985.

Atomflot icebreakers set out to rescue ships stuck in 2021.

The operation to get out of the ice took more than two weeks.

This is not such a long time, nothing critical has happened, but our fleet, apparently, has incurred certain costs.

In any case, a search and rescue operation always diverts resources and, depending on the geographical location of an emergency, can take a lot of time.

Ships get stuck due to changes in ice conditions that could not be predicted and detected in a timely manner.

These are the tasks that ice reconnaissance should solve.

• Russian icebreaker

• © Press service of USC JSC

UAVs and special equipment can detect hummocks and measure ice thickness.

Based on these data, it will be possible to lay the most optimal routes and understand the dynamics of changes in the ice cover, because even nuclear-powered icebreakers of the new generation are not able to overcome ice more than 3 m thick.

High-quality ice reconnaissance is of particular importance for the eastern chord of the NSR, where there are sections with an ice thickness of more than 4 m. Only icebreakers of project 10510 "Leader" will be able to overcome them.

Now the flagship of this project is being built at the Zvezda shipyard in the Far East.