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Design Fabricationand Deployementofa Tethered Aerostat NCAARV2014
Design Fabricationand Deployementofa Tethered Aerostat NCAARV2014
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4 authors, including:
Rakesh Sehgal
NIT Hamirpur (HP) India
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Abstract-This paper describes a project involving the participation of a pilot (either onboard or on ground); also, the
design, fabrication and field deployment of a tethered aerostat video data that they generate has lot of distortion and noise. It
system for aerial surveillance. The aerostat was sized using an is the cost of the rectification and filter systems of the video,
existing design methodology that takes care of the effect of
or the autonomous control systems, which makes surveillance
certain user-specified parameters as well as the operating
conditions. The aerostat envelope was fabricated by joining eight using these platforms prohibitively expensive.
petals of a special PVC coated material on an RF Sealing
machine. A special design feature of this aerostat is the use of This paper describes an innovative concept using tethered
semi-rigid configuration for the fins, which were constructed of Aerostats as a platform for carrying out surveillance from high
an aluminum truss framework, covered with thin transparent altitude. Tethered aerostats are an outcome of Lighter-Than-
PVC sheet. Air Technology, in which the static lift production mechanism
A hand-operated winch for raising and lowering the
aerostat was also designed and fabricated. A payload recovery is based on the Archimedes Principle [1]. An aerostat does not
device was installed on the aerostat, which automatically detects require any additional energy to reach to a certain deployment
accidental breakage of tether (by sensing sustained loss of altitude. The envelope of an aerostat is filled with a gas (such
tension) and triggers a circuit to burn a hole on top of the as Helium or Hydrogen) whose density is lesser than that of
envelope; thus resulting on loss of buoyancy and hence lowering ambient air, and the upward buoyant force thus generates
of the Aerostat. Another safety device was attached to the leads to the lift. The envelope volume is large enough to
envelope which, when commanded wirelessly from the ground,
can switch-on a separate self-contained circuit, similar to PRD.
ensure that the displaced air should be able to produce
The aerostat system was successfully deployed at the sufficient lift, under the entire range of operating conditions,
NIT Hamirpur campus for around five hours at a stretch. A to balance all the weight groups of the aerostat system, viz.,
light-weight digital camera was mounted on a wooden gondola, envelope, fin, pivot mechanism, payload, tether, recovery
and it provided steady and distortion-free HD imagery of the system, gas filling ports, and safety valves.
campus, thus establishing the efficacy of this aerostat for aerial A conceptual sketch of proposed system is shown in Fig. 1.
surveillance.
Index Terms—LTA, PRD, ERD
I. INTRODUCTION
2
E. Winch Details
A manual winch was designed and fabricated for ease in
raising and lowering the aerostat envelope. This winch was a
much simpler version of an earlier design by Sequeira et al.
[6] in 2007. The winch had a central cradle for winding and
un-winding of the tether, and has four castor wheels for easy
Figure 3. Profile of the aerostat similar to lynx shape
mobility. Two large cement blocks were mounted on the
C. Design of Fins for Aerodynamic Stability winch to make it heavy, so that it is not dragged away by the
Adequately sized fins are needed to ensure stability of the forces acting on the tether, as shown in Fig. 5.
aerostat in changing wind conditions, by generating a side
force that enables the envelope to weather-cock, i.e.,
automatically align the nose in the direction of wind flow.
Three triangular fins of semi-rigid configuration were used;
they were constructed using aluminum truss framework
covered with a thin transparent PVC film. The length of the
base was 1.2 m, and the height was 2 m. The base was firmly
attached to the aerostat envelope with the help of hooks and
Velcro strips. The fins were structurally tested to sustain the
loads expected to occur up to 15 m/s, which was nearly twice
the maximum expected wind speed.
Fig. 4 shows a photograph of the fins attached to the aerostat
envelope. Fig. 5 Photograph of the winch used in the trials
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mounted on top of the aerostat envelope, resulting in melting
of an adequately sized circular hole, leading to a slow release
of the contained LTA gas [8].
B. Emergency Rapid Deflation Device (ERDD)
As an added safety precaution, an ERDD was also installed
on the envelope, which can be actuated wirelessly to create a
hole on the top of the envelope. This device can be used to
intentionally bring down the aerostat envelope rapidly, in case
the weather situation deteriorates rapidly. It can also act as a
backup safety device in case the PRD system malfunctions for
some reason. The onboard mounted ERDD system
communicates wirelessly with a hand-held remote on the Fig. 6 Photograph of the aerostat just before deployment
ground, using Xbee-2 series pro boards.
The aerostat envelope was slowly deployed to a height of
IV. FIELD TRIAL OF TETHERED AEROSTAT around 50 m, as shown in Fig. 7.
The aerostat system was deployed in an open ground near
the OAT in the campus of NIT Hamirpur on 22nd April, 2014.
The first task that was accomplished on the previous night
was the laboratory tests on the working of PRD, ERDD, and
all the auxiliary systems that were to be attached to the
aerostat for safe deployment. Leak testing of the envelope was
also carried out to patch up the pinholes and leaks that had
developed during its transportation from Mumbai, and
handling.
The aerostat envelope and all accessories were then
transported to the deployment site during the early hours of
the day of deployment. The aerostat envelope was unpacked
on a carpet as a precaution to ensure that no damage occurs to
it, which can lead to leakage of LTA gas from it. The
Hydrogen gas was then slowly discharged into the envelope
by emptying the gas cylinders, one by one. It was observed
that after two cylinders were fully discharged in the envelope;
it started to rise up substantially.
Next, the payload bay and the two safety devices (PRD and
ERDD) were attached to the envelope. The circular Nichrome
wire sections were pasted on the top petals of the envelope.
The on-board camera and other payload devices are then
switched on and the aerostat is set for deployment. The tether
was unwound carefully and slowly to avoid any jerks. Finally
the fins were attached to the envelopes. Fig. 6 shows a Fig. 7 Photograph of the aerostat deployed ~50 m AGL
photograph of the aerostat ready for deployment, with all The tethered aerostat system was continuously deployed for
systems attached. around five hours. High resolution distortion-free video of the
campus was recorded by the on-board camera for around 80
minutes, after which the memory space on the 4 gB SD card
ran out! Fig. 8 is a photograph showing the video grab of the
onboard recorded video.
4
the envelope every month, and also include charges for
transportation and monthly rental of a cylinder over the three
year period.
If Helium is used instead of Hydrogen in the aerostat
envelope, the one-time expenditure will more than double, and
life cycle cost would increase by around 2.2 times. This is
because Helium is nearly six times costlier than Hydrogen,
and also not easily available. However, the payload of the
airship would be reduced, since the lifting capacity of Helium
per m3 of gas is nearly 7% lower than that of Hydrogen [1].
Figure 8. Photograph of the aerial video recorded onboard the aerostat
During the field trial, an additional ERDD system was
installed on the aerostat apart from the PRD for enhanced
The field trial clearly established the efficacy of a tethered safety. When the system is deployed for long duration,
aerostat system as a re-locatable aerial surveillance system. however, the ERDD system cannot be deployed, because for it
to function, it would need someone to constant monitor the
aerostat on a 24x7 basis, and trigger the device manually,
V. LIFE CYCLE COST BREAKDOWN
which is highly impractical.
In a previous study [9] the life-cycle cost of an aerostat If the surveillance camera is mounted on a fixed tower of
system for providing last-mile wireless communications 50 m height, instead of an aerostat, the fixed costs would
solution was determined, and compared with the costs of a come out to be approx. INR 150,000 comprising cost of
fixed communications tower. On the same lines, a comparison material and transportation, and labor charges for fabrication
of the life-cycle cost of the tethered aerostat system for long in hilly areas [10]. The operating cost of a tower based
endurance surveillance with that of an immobile, fixed, system, however, would be much lower, perhaps of the order
terrestrial system was carried out. of INR 10,000 annually [10]. The life cycle cost of setting up
Table II lists the major components of the life-cycle cost of a fixed tower is thus estimated to be around INR 180,000 for a
the tethered aerostat system for aerial surveillance, spread span of three years, i.e., INR 53,000 higher. While the aerostat
over a period of three years. envelope would have hardy any worthwhile residual life after
continuous deployment for three years, the fixed tower could
Table II: Life-Cycle cost breakdown over three years be used for many more years to come!
However, it must be kept in mind that an aerostat based
Component Cost (INR) surveillance system is easily re-locatable to any location of
Breakdown of Setting-up Cost (One Time)
Camera 4,000
interest for aerial surveillance. The proposed system can also
Aerostat Envelope 25,000 be deployed quickly to serve the disaster management and
Initial Gas Filling 10,700 relief agencies during emergency situations like floods,
Tether 500 earthquakes and other natural disaster affected areas, where
Winch 5,000
Payload Recovery Device (PRD) 4,800
there is a need of rapid search and rescue squad. The
Sub-Total 50,000 possibility of quick relocation and deployment of this system
Breakdown of Operating Cost (over three years) to any location, with very less launching area requirement is a
Gas Top-up 38,000 huge advantage.
Tether replacement 2,000
System Maintenance 27,000
Spare Battery for PRD 3,000 VI. CONCLUSIONS
Contingencies 7,000 The proposed surveillance system using aerostat has been
Sub-Total 77,000
Total Life Cycle Cost 127,000
studied extensively for its technical and economic feasibility.
The field trial at NIT Hamirpur proved that the system can be
It can be seen that the one-time expenditure involved in used for long-duration aerial surveillance, with a wide field of
fabrication of Aerostat is INR 50,000, which includes the on- view. A comparison with the life-cycle cost of a fixed land
board camera costing INR 4,000. The operating cost for a life- based system also brought out several advantages of this
cycle of three years is INR 77,000, which works out to be system.
approx. INR 2140 per month. These costs have been worked
out assuming commercially available Hydrogen gas of 99% ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
purity is used as the LTA Gas. The expenses towards Gas The authors would like to thank TEQIP-II for providing
Top-up listed in Table II assume that 5 % of gas leaks out of
5
financial support for funding of this project, and Prof. Rajesh
Sharma, Head, Dept. of Mechanical Engg., NIT Hamirpur for
administrative help and support. We would also like to thank
Mr. Vishal Sharma, JRF (Project) and Mr. Vivek Pradeep
Kumar, JRF (Project), LTA Systems Lab., Aerospace
Engineering Department, IIT Bombay for the help in
fabrication of Aerostat envelope and PRD circuit, and
assistance in carrying out the field trial. We also wish to
acknowledge the support of all the students and laboratory
staff of NIT Hamirpur who assisted us during the laboratory
tests, fabrication of system components, fins and winch,
system integration and field trial.
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