Past And Newly Available UAV Helicopter Projects;
Mr. Fetters and Fetters AeroSpace Company prefers to no longer manufacture aircraft for the public. Instead, Mr. Fetters will design a helicopter to meet the special needs of a customer, and go to their facility and not only help them manufacture the helicopter, but help to setup their operation and train their personnel to be capable of manufacturing that helicopter. In the particular case of his newest design, Mr. Fetters decided to design a UAV helicopter that he knew would fit the requirements of the largest segment of the worlds market, and then find a customer that would be willing to purchase the project and let Mr. Fetters develop it for them. That new design is called the StarLite-2A VTUAV Helicopter.
The StarLite-1B
Also Known As The SVU-200 Heavy-Lift VTUAV Autonomous Helicopter;
The
StarLite-1B, or also known as the SVU-200 was designed for Hunan Sunward Science and Technology Co., LTD., of
Changsha China, where Mr. Fetters has been living and building the project for
the last 2 years, working hand-in-hand training Sunward engineers in the art of
rotorcraft development, together while manufacturing 100% of the SVU-200 UAV
helicopter in China except for some electrical components.
The SVU-200 benefits from a new rotorhead and control system combination designed by Mr. Fetters that provides for “super-stable” controlling of the helicopter requiring only 1/10th of the amount of computer-stabilizing control inputs as with other large UAV helicopters.
The SVU-200 benefits from a new rotorhead and control system combination designed by Mr. Fetters that provides for “super-stable” controlling of the helicopter requiring only 1/10th of the amount of computer-stabilizing control inputs as with other large UAV helicopters.
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The SUV-200 has two internal payload bays, one in the nose and one in
the rear of the aircraft, and is also equipped with hard-points and capable of
hauling sling-loads, or carry an external cargo/payload pod, and even
extended-range tanks with extra fuel for longer mission capabilities.
The SVU-200 is powered by a Rotax 582 engine using the special Fetters-designed PEP (Power Enhancement Package) exhaust system, enabling the engines power to be increase from its normal 65 to 78 horsepower, and designed to be capable of lifting up to a 200kg maximum useful load and a top-speed up to 209 km/hr.
The SUV-200 is not an existing helicopter converted to a UAV, but was designed from the ground up as a "large helicopter made small" and not a "small RC helicopter made big", like most all other UAV helicopters to date.
The SVU-200 is powered by a Rotax 582 engine using the special Fetters-designed PEP (Power Enhancement Package) exhaust system, enabling the engines power to be increase from its normal 65 to 78 horsepower, and designed to be capable of lifting up to a 200kg maximum useful load and a top-speed up to 209 km/hr.
The SUV-200 is not an existing helicopter converted to a UAV, but was designed from the ground up as a "large helicopter made small" and not a "small RC helicopter made big", like most all other UAV helicopters to date.
All parts
were specifically designed and built for this project and are unique, using
custom-made geared transmissions and tail-rotor drive shafts.
Therefore the SVU-200 has the same construction as a full-size manned helicopter, along with the same reliability and longevity as a full-size manned helicopter.
This detail to quality is due to the fact that today’s electronic payloads can easily be more valuable than the cost of the helicopter.
Therefore the SVU-200 has the same construction as a full-size manned helicopter, along with the same reliability and longevity as a full-size manned helicopter.
This detail to quality is due to the fact that today’s electronic payloads can easily be more valuable than the cost of the helicopter.
We invite you to watch the following video showing the SVU-200 UAV Helicopters first autonomous flights. The video was taken over a two day period, in which time it took to make adjustments to the autonomous controller, and unheard of short time. This is due to the fact that the helicopter was designed to be operated by an autonomous system from its concept, and not just another compromise like other projects.
We also invite you to watch the very first flights of the SVU-200 UAV Helicopter under manned control. This vehicle was capable of flight the first time tried, and needed no further adjustments or modifications to fly correctly. The following day it was demonstrated in this video to the C.E.O of it's owner, Mr. He of Sunward Technologies in Changsha China.
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The StarLite-1A
The
StarLite-1A project was started in August 2002. A customer had approached Mr.
Fetters with the proposal to build a medium-size UAV helicopters using the main
components of one of Mr. Fetters earlier manned helicopters he had designed;
the Mini-500. The reason for using the already proven main components from the
Mini-500 Manned helicopter is only a natural conclusion, because one of the
hardest and most expensive thing in helicopter development is to design, build
and then prove for long term operation the complex components such as
rotorhead, and control systems, tailrotor, main and tailrotor transmissions,
etc.
Indeed using the Mini-500 main components and only having to design a new fuselage did save a great deal of time and money, flight tests started to show Mr. Fetters the downfalls to such a design. In a manned helicopter configuration the human occupants are the payload, so the helicopter must be optimized in it’s designed to carry out that job as efficiently as possible, so the balance of the helicopter must consider in the design the placement of the humans for balance. This means that any manned helicopter that is converted into a UAV must carry enough ballast where the human cargo is mission so it can be balanced. That means the UAV must fly at or around maximum loads all the time, severely limiting the performance and capability of the vehicle. The StarLite-1A achieved many hundreds of hours of successful flights and 5 vehicles were built and flown, none of which ever crashed during the projects history.
Indeed using the Mini-500 main components and only having to design a new fuselage did save a great deal of time and money, flight tests started to show Mr. Fetters the downfalls to such a design. In a manned helicopter configuration the human occupants are the payload, so the helicopter must be optimized in it’s designed to carry out that job as efficiently as possible, so the balance of the helicopter must consider in the design the placement of the humans for balance. This means that any manned helicopter that is converted into a UAV must carry enough ballast where the human cargo is mission so it can be balanced. That means the UAV must fly at or around maximum loads all the time, severely limiting the performance and capability of the vehicle. The StarLite-1A achieved many hundreds of hours of successful flights and 5 vehicles were built and flown, none of which ever crashed during the projects history.