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6 A project at the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center could significantly change the way UAVs are designed and built with electric motors. The Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LeapTech) project will test the premise that tighter integration between the electric motors and the airframe will improve the efficiency of UAV designs. Over the next several months, researchers at the space agency will perform ground testing of a 31 ft-span carbon composite wing section with 18 electric motors powered by lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. The key idea is that each motor can be operated independently at different speeds for optimum performance. This impacts on the design of the wing, as varying the airflow from the motor changes the lift of the wing, rather than using flaps or ailerons. At the moment, the experimental wing, called the Hybrid-Electric Integrated Systems Testbed (Heist), is mounted on a specially modified truck instead of in a wind tunnel. The wing section will remain attached to load cells on a supporting truss while the truck is driven at speeds of up to 70 mph across a dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base in California to test ways of controlling the engines. NASA is working with two Californian companies, Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) in Pismo Beach and Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz, on the technology. ESAero is the prime contractor for Heist, being responsible for system integration and instrumentation, while Joby is looking after the design and manufacture of the electric motors, propellers and carbon fibre wing section. Mission-critical info for UST professionals Leap in UAV efficiency? Future UAVs could use many electric motors along wings as a result of the LeapTech research programme Propulsion Summer 2015 | Unmanned Systems Technology Platform one