The Ferret is a small man portable UAV produced by Theiss Aviation
to be inserted into a combat environment for reconnaissance,
chemical/biochemical agent detection, and munitions delivery.
The Ferret is constructed of inexpensive foam, wood and fiberglass, and is
based on a larger stable fixed wing design developed by Theiss Aviation, Inc.
The craft offers a high "sprint" speed to arrive on target quickly, and a
low "loiter" speed to allow for duration on target.
As demonstrated above, it is highly portable
by way of utilizing a "pivoting wing" system; there are no separate components
to assemble or fit together. The craft is capable of being
bungee or hand launched by ground troops.
SPECIFICATIONS
Wing Span - 40 in.
Wing Area - 380 sqin.
Length - 37 in.
Height - 8 in.
Stress - (+/-) 4 g
Gross Weight - 5.5 lbs.
Power Plant - Electric
Cruise speed - 40 mph (33 kts.)
Ceiling - 8,000’msl
Take off distance - N/A (Hand or Bungee launch)
Landing distance - 50 to 75 ft. (Belly landing)
Payload capacity - 1.5 lbs.
Set Up / Knock Down Time frames - 10 min. (Airframe and GCS)
SYSTEM CONTROL OPTIONS
BASIC
Aircraft System utilizes a standard 72 MHz radio transmitter and onboard receiver to manually fly the craft via “radio control”. Range is approximately 1.5 miles.
AUTO ASSIST
This option uses a simple onboard autopilot assist system with a piezo gyro for roll axis and a very sensitive barometer for the pitch axis. When Auto Assist is off, it does not interfere with any manual control. When it is on, it will stabilize the aircraft in two axes when there is no control input. You still have control over elevator and rudder, but it cannot be over controlled. You can climb but you cannot loop. You can descend but you cannot dive. The roll axis will not allow the craft to go inverted. Whenever the sticks are centered, the Auto Assist will right the model and fly it straight and level. Whenever you bank, it will hold the altitude for you as long as there is enough power from the engine. When you throttle back, it will go into a smooth descent while maintaining level flight in pitch and roll. The unit also uses GPS to locate a home position, which it will navigate to if activated. In summary the Auto Assist unit allows for three mode selections: normal flight with full pilot authority, stabilization mode, and homing mode.
FULL AUTO
This option is a complete autopilot solution including flight sensors, GPS, and communications link. This includes the onboard autopilot and ground control station for the system. The system supports operating multiple aircraft (up to 10) from a single Operator Interface and Ground Station, and offers advanced system functionality, including:
-Completely autonomous operation with catapult launch and autoland
-Dead reckoning / graceful degradation in lost GPS environment
-Auto Assist manual flight modes
-Flexible drag and drop flight plan generation and updates
-Control of lights, flight termination, or autonomous drop function
-Flexible simulator tools
-Single CPU software simulation in addition to complete system HWIL simulation
The System also has the processing power to accommodate future growth, and offers Real-Time Data Logging (Flight telemetry data is logged in both binary and ASCII formats). More feature details available upon request.
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