New US underwater drone
Discussion
Simpo Two said:
Does it need wings? Maybe it flies too...
It looks a bit like a squashed space shuttle.
They are not wings but dive planes. Subs have them. It helps with going up and down. These are just better faired into the body than the standard subs. It looks a bit like a squashed space shuttle.
When you dont need space for people you can squash everything up a bit.
You can see what the traditionally look like here.
sherman said:
Flying Phil said:
Could it have a flight/glide capability to get it into distant areas quickly?
Actually that sounds plausible. Drop it several hundred miles away and a few thousand feet up from the back of a cargo plane and
popeyewhite said:
sherman said:
Flying Phil said:
Could it have a flight/glide capability to get it into distant areas quickly?
Actually that sounds plausible. Drop it several hundred miles away and a few thousand feet up from the back of a cargo plane and
sherman said:
popeyewhite said:
sherman said:
Flying Phil said:
Could it have a flight/glide capability to get it into distant areas quickly?
Actually that sounds plausible. Drop it several hundred miles away and a few thousand feet up from the back of a cargo plane and
hidetheelephants said:
It's so secret they announced the start of the design competition 4 years ago and have issued press releases since.I had never seen or heard of this submersible until yesterday when this thread started.
Sorry, that was a bit uncalled for. DARPA Manta Ray programme.
popeyewhite said:
It's an underwater drone, and doesn't seem to have any of the parts concerned with directional ability a glider possesses ie ailerons. My guess is the 'wings' hold ballast or are a storage area. Is the tech even available for an underwater boat to 'glide' through the air?
I would assume that it 'flies' underwater, using the wings for hydrodynamic lift (or downforce, it it has a slight positive bouyancy). I'm guessing it does have elevons, and is controlled in much the same way as a flying wing.I designed and built something similar as a toy when I was a kid - it enables you to have a submersible that doesn't need ballast tanks and all the complicated gubbins required to flood or blow them to dive or surface - which would be a benefit for extended missions (you don't have to carry a big supply of compressed air, or the means to pump out the ballast tanks). You ballast the vehicle as a whole so that (in my case) it has slightly positive bouyancy and so floats when at a standstill, but 'flies' underwater just like an aeroplane when you drive it forward. The problem I had was control, 'cos RC doesn't work well under water and I had neither a Raspberry Pi with which to make it autonomous, nor DARPA's budget, when I was a lad.
From the stuff on the Northrop Grumman website, I'd speculate that this one has slight negative bouyancy when carrying the weight that can tether it to the bottom when it's 'resting', but that it drops that weight when they want it to float to the surface for recovery.
Edited to add quote from article linked in OP (doh! always read the link first...):
"Once deployed, the vehicle uses efficient, buoyancy-driven gliding to move through the water"
Edited by Equus on Friday 3rd May 08:28
Equus said:
floats when at a standstill, but 'flies' underwater just like an aeroplane when you drive it forward.
That would be embarrassing if you need to stop within sight of Ivan and it pops onto the surface...I like the idea of a drone that could fly/glide in the air first to increase range.
Simpo Two said:
Equus said:
floats when at a standstill, but 'flies' underwater just like an aeroplane when you drive it forward.
That would be embarrassing if you need to stop within sight of Ivan and it pops onto the surface...I like the idea of a drone that could fly/glide in the air first to increase range.
It is a well established and very elegant concept using variable buoyancy to allow it to glide forward while ascending and descending in the water column. Sometimes Wiki can be very helpful...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff