The sky's the limit

For many, the term "unmanned aircraft" is only heard during times of war. It evokes images of fighter drones targeting terrorists or military spy planes flying reconnaissance and attack missions. And there's a reason for that.

Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are solely for military purposes, but professors and researchers at the Institute of Aerospace Engineering (LÚ) at the Brno University of Technology see great potential for "civilian" uses of UAVs. Instead of sitting back and waiting for legislation to take hold, researchers at the university are moving forward and developing semi-automated prototypes.

Supported by the Industry and Trade Ministry, researchers at the university wanted to develop an aircraft that could be used for jobs that require eyes in the sky, like monitoring traffic or fire protection, but in a cost effective way.  They worked on an experimental semi-automated aircraft, which is a plane that can function by computer or with a pilot.

"The popularity of UAVs has increased lately due to fast development in electronics, navigation and telemetry systems," said Robert Popela, LÚ professor. "The UAV can stay in the air for longer times and thus decreases operational costs, but civil operation of UAVs is still a new concept that we are exploring. We are still looking toward a fully automatic system, but this will need more time to develop, and our prototype was just the first step."

In 2009, 40 people from the LÚ in Brno completed the development of an experimental aircraft, the VUT 001 Marabu, to offer a long-endurance semi-automated plane for public use. While it can fly on autopilot, a pilot is still onboard in case the plane needs to be controlled in an emergency.  

"During the mission, the pilot(s) can operate reconnaissance systems more safely with help of autopilot," Popela said. "The approach to using a piloted aircraft was to minimize the cost of development of aircraft suitable for future UAV operations."

The aircraft was built from composite materials with metal wings and is powered by a piston engine with a pusher propeller and can stay in the air for more than seven hours with a 120-liter fuel tank. Additionally, it has is a small jet engine, which is asymmetrically placed over the left wing.

On May 7, 2010, the Marabu was flown for the first time at Kunovice Airport and performed more than 20 successful test flights, enabling the enginerring faculty and LÚ to continue to develop other experimental planes for nonmilitary uses.

"The aircraft proved to have very good handling characteristics, and it was safe," Popela said. "We were able to collect a huge amount of data for further development."

According to Jaroslav Juračka, a mechanical engineering professor at the university, the success of the VUT 001 Marabu, enabled the development of two other aircrafts, which professors and researchers are currently working on. The jet engine, which is a product of the První brněnská strojírna company at Velká Bíteš near Brno, ushered in the creation of a high-performance turboprop aircraft called the VUT 061 TURBO. The aircraft is completely powered by the small engine. Also, the LÚ faculty has been working on a fully electric aircraft called the VUT 051 RAY.

Popela said there is a wide range of uses for all of the UAV and semi-automated experimental aircraft currently being developed at the university, such as search and rescue, livestock monitoring, wildfire mapping, pipeline security, home security, road patrol and scientific research.

"We believe that the future applications for UAVs or highly automated piloted aircrafts can significantly reduce operating costs of aerial monitoring," Popela said. "These projects and new developments will open new markets for aircraft producers and operators, as well."

- Filip Šenk contributed to this report.

Megan Battista can be reached at
features@praguepost.com