Embry-Riddle PAV-ER (technology demonstrator)

(Photo credit: Eagle Flight Research Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)

PAV-ER (technology demonstrator)
Eagle Flight Research Center
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, Florida, United States of America
www.erau.edu

Founded in 1926, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University is a private university based in Daytona Beach, Florida, and in Prescott, Arizona, United States. The university has courses in aviation, aerospace, applied sciences, business, computers & technology, engineering, and security, intelligence & safety and more. Embry-Riddle has numerous online programs and academic programs offered online at many satellite locations. The PAV-ER is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology demonstrator to help propel the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry.

"PAV-ER hardware and software mimic and counter servo failures, motor failures and other malfunctions, according to principal investigator Dr. Kyle Collins (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University), It will be a fault-tolerant control system." "The air-taxi-sized testbed can also help formulate scaling laws for bigger non-traditional eVTOL aircraft," according to Dr. Pat Anderson (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University). "The research center is looking for external funding and plans to evolve the testbed, notionally adding an aerodynamic shell, composite frame and hybrid electric propulsion," said Anderson. These excerpts were taken from the article, Controlling Interest, by the Vertical Flight Society.

Anderson said. "This begins to align with airline-type safety requirements, which makes the vehicle safer than standard helicopters." This quote from the article PAV-ER: New Personal Air Vehicle built in the University’s Eagle Flight Research Center Features Hybrid Propulsion, Rotor Blades, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept. 16, 2020.

PAV-ER (Personal Air Vehicle–Embry-Riddle) uncrewed eVTOL vectored thrust (technology demonstrator)
The PAV-ER (Personal Air Vehicle–Embry-Riddle) is a large fly-by-wire uncrewed eVTOL vectored thrust technology demonstrator. The piloting might be by remote control or it will be autonomous piloting. According to the university, the technology demonstrator combines a decade of electrified propulsion progress, innovative control laws and autonomy research into a technology demonstrator that could propel the future of urban transportation.

In 2021, the university team stated the flight time was between five to 10 minutes and the maximum takeoff weight for the technology demonstrator was 500 lb (227 kg). The aircraft has eight tilt-propellers, eight electric motors and is powered by battery packs. The aircraft has an open framed fuselage using 4130 chrome alloy aircraft tubing. The technology demonstrator lands on the bottom of its fuselage and has one rear landing strut.

According to the team, most of the research is focused on increasing reliability and the vehicle’s ability to accommodate in-flight failure, such as the loss of a propeller. The aircraft can still fly with one propeller failure. The status of the project is unknown.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Uncrewed eVTOL technology demonstrator
• Piloting: Remote using fly-by-wire flight control (or possibly using artificial intelligence)
• Capacity: Uncrewed
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Flight time: 5-10 minutes with current battery packs used. If a future full-scale prototype is made, the aircraft will us a hybrid-electric power source, according to the university.
• Maximum takeoff weight: 500 lb (227 kg)
• Propellers: 8 tilt-propellers (the tilt-propellers, can tilt vertically down or vertically up)
• Electric motors: 8 electric motors
• Power source: Battery packs
• Fuselage: Open framed fuselage using 4130 chrome alloy aircraft tubing
• Cockpit: None
• Landing gear: Lands on the bottom of the frame and has 1 rear landing strut
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. 

Related Aircraft: 

• Embry-Riddle PAV-ER (concept design)
• Embry-Riddle Talon Lift Talon (concept design)

Resources:

• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University website
• Eagle Flight Research Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University website
• Eagle Flight Research Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Instagram
  Eagle Flight Research Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University LinkedIn
• Article/Video: The Flying Car Becomes a Reality, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept. 6, 2017
• Article: Embry‑Riddle Works to Advance Sustainable Environmentally Friendly Urban Air Mobility Vehicles, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Aug. 17, 2020
• Article: PAV-ER: New Personal Air Vehicle built in the University’s Eagle Flight Research Center Features Hybrid Propulsion, Rotor Blades, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Sept. 16, 2020
• Video: Personal Air Vehicle Development (PAV-ER), Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2021
• Article: Richard Anderson, Vertipedia by the Vertical Flight Society, Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2021
• Article: Controlling Interest, Vertiflite, March/April 2021
• Video: PERSONAL AIR VEHICLE by EMBRY-RIDDLE | URBAN AIR MOBILITY, Alan Makoso, Apr. 19, 2021