SBIR Phase I: A Novel Form of Distributed Electric Propulsion for UAVs and Air Mobility

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to advance the capability for both unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and air taxis to operate in urban environments. The form factor of this propulsion technology will allow air vehicles to maneuver, land, and park in tight spaces and to reduce or eliminate the risk of propeller contact injuries. These new capabilities will allow unmanned aerial vehicles and air taxis to operate in dense urban environments and in closer proximity to human beings without risk of injury or collision with the urban environment. In turn, this will accelerate applications such as autonomous package delivery, where UAVs are expected to operate autonomously around unpredictable humans, as well as air taxis, with inherent challenges in tight maneuvering and proximity to waiting passengers. Furthermore, these manufacturing techniques may find other applications in fields such as wearable and implanted hybrid electronic systems. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will advance the state of the art in unmanned aerial vehicle and manned air vehicle capabilities. The proposed research will develop a novel propulsion solution that can be built to form factors unachievable with current technology. These form factors can be designed to both eliminate the possibility of propeller contact injuries to human beings and allow a significantly higher degree of maneuverability in very close quarters. The implementation of this solution will require new innovations in the manufacture of flexible hybrid electronics (FHE), combining flexible substrates with support electronics. This project will evaluate the technical feasibility of this proposed approach through the construction of a prototype device using flexible hybrid electronics manufacturing techniques. This project will then conduct verification and validation tests in environments relevant to the missions envisioned for unmanned aerial vehicles and other urban air mobility systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.