CASSIOPEA C (CARTOGRAPHER)
On April 29, 2023, the development of the Cassiopeia family continued, and its next representative was the Cassiopeia C unmanned aerial vehicle (Cartographer).
The Cassiopeia C (Cartographer) unmanned aerial vehicle is designed for mapping, solving reconnaissance tasks, fire control and target designation.
Like its predecessor, this aircraft is also built according to the flying wing design. The detachable parts of the wing are equipped with winglets. The power plant consists of a brushless electric motor with a pusher propeller, a speed controller and two batteries. Control is carried out through transceiver equipment operating at a frequency of 2.4 GHz.
The DJI O3 4K Air Unit module is installed on board the UAV.
The aircraft fuselage is made of LW-PLA filament, which ensures minimal weight of the structure, high strength characteristics and reasonable cost.
The aircraft body is modular and foldable. This ensures convenient delivery to the site of operation, and also allows you to quickly replace a damaged module. Also, operational experience has shown that in most cases of minor damage, repairs can be carried out by gluing the damaged component. In this case, additional reinforcement of the structure at the gluing site is not required, and the increase in the weight of the structure is insignificant.
The design of the aircraft includes a device for safe hand-launching, which also speeds up the launch of the UAV due to the absence of the need to deploy bulky launch units.
This UAV does not require a specially prepared take-off and landing site, which makes it indispensable when carrying out work in hard-to-reach areas. Operating experience has shown that a “corridor” up to 50 m long is sufficient for takeoff and landing.
At the moment, the UAV has completed 9 flights, and the total flight time is more than 5 hours. Moreover, all 9 flights were completed successfully.
Technical data
Parameter | Value |
---|---|
Video/radio range | 10 km / 10 km (BVLOS) |
Video/radio frequencies | 5.8 GHz / 2.4 GHz |
Wingspan | 1450 mm |
Wing area: | 28 dm2 (excluding fuselage area) |
Flight duration | 45 min |
Maximum flight altitude | 1500 m |
Launch | horizontal, “by hand” |
Motor type: | electric brushless, pushing |
Maximum flight speed | ~130 km/h |
Flight speed, cruising | ~65 – 75 km/h |
Maximum take-off weight | 2 kg |
Payload weight | up to 0.5 kg |
Navigation | GPS |
Battery | 2 x 4S 4000 mAh |
Maximum permissible wind speed | 17 m/s |
Camera viewing angle | 155º |
On April 25, 2024, the first flight of Cassiopeia C M1 took place – the flight of a modification that received reinforcement of some structural elements.
To increase the structure’s resistance to vibration, rubber winglets and a central compartment were installed. To ensure a soft and precise landing, rubber ventral ridges and lidar were installed.
This modification completed 3 flights with a total flight time of 109 minutes.
Experience using lidar has shown the ability not only to perform automatic takeoff and flight in general, but also to perform automatic landing according to a pre-prepared flight mission.
It is impossible not to note the enormous benefit of this function in the event of an emergency situation in which the UAV can return to the starting point and perform an automatic landing taking into account wind corrections, for example.