Tag: Zephyr

Building the future of localization: how GNSS+IMU and VPS work together
Accurate localization underpins modern mobility, powering everything from precise rideshare pickups and efficient deliveries to augmented reality and autonomous systems. Yet achieving reliable sub-meter precision with commodity hardware remains one of the field’s central challenges.

A range of technologies are being explored to improve positioning, such as real-time kinematic (RTK) and Precise Point Positioning (PPP) corrections, 5G methods standardized under the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), light detection and ranging (lidar), inertial measurement units (IMUs), and ultra-wideband (UWB). Each plays a role in specific contexts, but for everyday, mass-market deployment, two paradigms dominate the conversation: visual positioning systems (VPS), which rely on cameras and computer vision to match images against reference databases, and GNSS plus inertial measurement unit (GNSS+IMU) sensor fusion, which integrates satellite positioning with inertial data already present in billions of devices.

These two approaches are not mutually exclusive. VPS works best in dense urban areas where GNSS can struggle, while GNSS+IMU excels in the open environments where VPS has fewer features to recognize. In practice, VPS even depends on GNSS to help narrow the search space in its visual database. That makes the two technologies natural complements, and together they provide the building blocks for the next generation of spatial intelligence.

The Role of VPS

VPS use computer vision to determine position relative to known landmarks. In favorable environments – especially dense, feature-rich urban settings — they can deliver impressive accuracy. VPS has been successfully applied in AR anchoring, pedestrian navigation, and even some indoor mapping, offering a level of precision that is difficult to match with GNSS alone.

At the same time, VPS faces challenges that limit its ability to scale as a standalone universal solution. Maintaining vast libraries of reference imagery requires constant collection and refreshing, even for companies with resources such as Google’s Street View. Keeping cameras active and running neural network matching consumes power and compute, with AR and navigation apps often showing rapid battery drain when vision pipelines are engaged.

Performance can also be fragile, with accuracy dropping in low light, bad weather, or environments with limited features such as open fields or glass-heavy corridors where reflections distort recognition. Because VPS requires continuous camera use, it also raises privacy concerns under regulations like GDPR.

But VPS still fills an important feature set: it works best in exactly the environments where GNSS struggles most. In dense urban areas with abundant visual features but heavy multi-path interference, VPS provides a complementary capability that enhances overall localization performance when paired with GNSS+IMU.

GNSS+IMU Fusion

GNSS provides global reach, but smartphone accuracy typically ranges from 3m to 5 m. This may be adequate for turn-by-turn navigation, but it does not meet the precision required for lane-level guidance, pedestrian navigation or building entrances. Pairing GNSS with IMU data changes that equation by adding orientation and motion context.

Sensor fusion combines GNSS position (x, y, z) with IMU-derived orientation (α, β, γ) to deliver six degrees of freedom (6DoF). In practice, this allows devices to determine not only where they are, but also which way they are facing, which is critical for navigation and AR anchoring.

Another key advantage is that fusion also runs efficiently on-device, using low-power sensors already embedded in nearly every phone. It avoids the battery drain and compute overhead of vision-based methods, remains resilient in poor visibility, and largely sidesteps the privacy concerns associated with continuous camera use.

Together, GNSS+IMU and VPS offer complementary strengths: GNSS+IMU provides scalable global coverage, while VPS adds value in dense urban or visually rich environments. Used in tandem, they extend reliable sub-meter localization across a far wider range of real-world scenarios.

Performance in Field Tests

Independent field testing has underscored the impact of GNSS+IMU fusion in real-world conditions. In trials conducted in Louisville, Colorado, standard smartphones relying solely on GNSS averaged ~1.9 meters of error. When collaborative corrections and IMU fusion were added, mean error dropped to ~0.55 meters – a more than threefold improvement.

To benchmark localization performance against visual methods, we compared heading determination from Zephr’s sensor-based approach with Google’s VPS, widely considered an industry leader in vision-based localization. Using the same device and location, headings generated from ArPose and Zephr were plotted against VPS outputs.

Figure 1: The figure shows a strong correlation, with a mean heading difference of just 7.58° and a heading correlation of 99.52%.

The results in Figure 1 show a strong correlation, with a mean heading difference of just 7.58 degrees and a heading correlation of 99.52%. This provides a useful benchmark, illustrating that sensor-based approaches can achieve heading accuracy on par with vision-based systems while avoiding the data, compute, and privacy burdens tied to continuous camera use.

Head-to-Head Comparison

When considered side by side, VPS and GNSS+IMU reveal distinct strengths. VPS delivers high accuracy in dense urban environments, where GNSS can be degraded by multipath or blockage. GNSS+IMU, meanwhile, provides consistent global coverage and efficient performance in open environments where VPS has fewer features to recognize. Taken together, they form a complementary toolset, with each addressing the other’s gaps.
- Cost & Infrastructure: VPS offers detailed visual positioning but requires continuous investment in capturing and updating reference imagery, which can run into petabytes of data and demand large-scale cloud storage. GNSS+IMU leverages existing satellite constellations and commodity sensors already embedded in smartphones, scaling naturally without additional infrastructure.
- Battery & Compute: VPS enables precise landmark recognition but must keep cameras active and process high-resolution frames, a pipeline that consumes energy and compute. GNSS+IMU fuses lightweight sensor readings on-device, sustaining real-time performance with minimal power. Hybrid systems can use VPS selectively for visual anchors when power budgets allow.
- Environmental Robustness: VPS excels in dense urban cores where landmarks are abundant, but its performance can degrade in low light, heavy weather, or feature-poor settings such as highways or open fields. GNSS+IMU continues to perform in most outdoor environments, with IMUs bridging short GNSS gaps in tunnels or urban canyons. Together, they extend reliable coverage across diverse conditions.
- Privacy: VPS provides visual context but depends on continuous camera feeds, which can raise concerns under regulations like GDPR and CCPA. GNSS+IMU relies solely on inertial and satellite data, which can be anonymized and processed on-device. Privacy-conscious applications may favor GNSS+IMU as the default, while invoking VPS in controlled contexts.
- Scalability: VPS delivers strong results in mapped geographies but is constrained by the cost of collecting and maintaining visual data globally. GNSS+IMU scales as more devices ship with standard GNSS receivers and inertial sensors, with accuracy improving further when devices contribute corrections to a shared network. In combination, VPS can add value in high-density urban corridors where visual richness offsets its infrastructure demands.
Beyond Accuracy: Spatial Intelligence Without Cameras

GNSS+IMU fusion not only narrows positioning error but also provides contextual awareness. By combining positional vectors with device orientation, systems can determine not just where a device is, but what lies within its field of view.

This contextual layer enables landmark-aware navigation and natural AI interactions. Instead of vague coordinates, users could be guided to “meet at the blue mailbox next to the coffee shop entrance.” In AR, digital content can be anchored to the physical world without the overhead of vision-based methods. And for AI interfaces, assistants could answer spatial queries (“Is the restaurant to my right or left?”) with precision that feels intuitive.

While GNSS+IMU avoids reliance on cameras, VPS can still add complementary value by providing visual anchors in feature-rich spaces. Used together, the two methods create a more resilient and adaptive localization system, able to support a wider range of real-world scenarios than either could alone.

A Clearer Path Forward

VPS has proven valuable in research, robotics, and AR demonstrations, particularly in dense urban environments. But its reliance on imagery, heavy compute, and continuous camera use makes it difficult to scale as a universal solution for sub-meter accuracy.

To unlock the next generation of spatially intelligent applications, from context-aware assistants to immersive AR, localization must be both practical and massively scalable. This foundation will come from GNSS+IMU sensor fusion, complemented by vision-based methods where they add value. GNSS+IMU builds on infrastructure and sensors already present in billions of devices, delivers efficient on-device performance, and avoids the privacy tradeoffs of camera-based systems.

As positioning becomes the backbone of spatial AI, the evidence points to a decisive outcome: the future will be multimodal, but the scalable backbone will be GNSS+IMU fusion since it empowers devices to understand and interact with the world reliably, with or without cameras.
November 3, 2025
FCC opens door to GPS alternatives, but risks undermining its greatest strength
On March 27, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously approved a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) to explore GPS alternatives, amid escalating threats to security and system resiliency. The move signals growing federal concern about the reliability of space-based navigation and timing infrastructure amid rising global interference and spoofing incidents.

But while the FCC’s broad consideration of alternative technologies is a welcome step forward, its framing also risks weakening one of GPS’s most important defenses: the growing adoption of multi-constellation strategies across the commercial sector.

Rising Threats, Broader Mandates

The FCC’s decision follows the release of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest safety report, which documented a 175% increase in GPS interference and a 500% rise in spoofing attacks year-over-year. These incidents pose critical challenges to aviation safety, emergency services, telecommunications, and countless other sectors that rely on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services.

Against this backdrop, the Commission’s vote reflects a bipartisan sense of urgency. The NOI invites public comment on a range of technologies that could serve as complements or alternatives to GPS, including low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, terrestrial signals, and enhanced end-user devices. This broad framing is encouraging and acknowledges the multifaceted nature of PNT resilience.

A Multi-Layered Approach to PNT

The FCC’s focus on diversification — across space-based, terrestrial, and user-level technologies — is not only prudent, but essential. Enhancing national security and system redundancy requires more than a single backup solution. It demands layered resiliency that integrates complementary modalities into a cohesive ecosystem.

It is very encouraging that the NOI outlines a wide array of candidate technologies that could play a role in improving the U.S. PNT infrastructure. These range from inertial navigation systems and time transfer services to novel terrestrial radio signals and commercial LEO constellations. By casting a wide net, the FCC opens the door to innovation and allows market forces to contribute meaningfully to PNT modernization.

Commercial Reality vs. Government Narrative

However, the FCC’s discussion notably underplays a key reality: few commercial technologies today rely solely on GPS. The commercial PNT landscape has already moved beyond single-source dependency, with the vast majority of systems integrating multiple GNSS constellations (such as GPS, Galileo, BeiDou and GLONASS) alongside additional sensor and signal data to ensure robust coverage and accuracy.

This multi-constellation approach is arguably the single most powerful tool we have to strengthen the resilience of GPS-dependent systems. By allowing receivers to pull data from multiple GNSS sources, users gain spatial and signal diversity, enabling them to cross-check signals, reject spoofed or erroneous data, and maintain accurate position and timing even in degraded environments. It’s important to remember that a device can’t selectively use GNSS networks depending on the user’s geography. If U.S. device makers disable BeiDou and GLONASS, then anywhere in the world that receiver goes it will be less performant and competitive. In recent field tests, we found that disabling the BeiDou constellation decreased a device’s positioning accuracy by 30% to 40%.

This accuracy and resilience are especially important in sectors like aviation, autonomous systems, and emergency response, where signal fidelity and redundancy can be life-saving. Multi-constellation GNSS use isn’t theoretical: it’s already the industry standard.

The International Tightrope

Despite this, key elements of the NOI, as well as comments during the meeting, reflect a growing U.S. government skepticism toward the inclusion of foreign GNSS systems, especially BeiDou and GLONASS. While geopolitical caution is understandable, overly rigid restrictions on international signals could do more harm than good.

These systems are not merely foreign-owned alternatives. They are integral components of the modern GNSS environment. Many U.S. commercial devices — ranging from smartphones to augmented reality, fleet tracking systems, drones, and more — already leverage multiple GNSS sources by default. Future technologies such as autonomous vehicles, robotics and urban air mobility will also require multiple GNSS signals to function. Prohibiting or restricting their use could mean rolling back years of progress in signal resilience, not to mention stymying future technologies, and all for a speculative and largely unquantified national security risk.

While there are some valid concerns about adversarial control over PNT infrastructure, the FCC must weigh these carefully against the real, measurable benefits of an open and interoperable GNSS ecosystem. An overcorrection risks introducing new vulnerabilities in the name of mitigating others. In reality, the more vulnerable elements of the threat surface are GNSS receivers and mobile networks, particularly 5G systems, where user location is actually determined and tracked. Unlike the largely speculative and technically unproven threats tied to adversarial GNSS constellations, there are well-documented cases of compromised receivers and nation-state exploitation of mobile infrastructure – the very reason several countries have banned Chinese 5G providers. The FCC should focus on these clear and active risks, rather than reacting to theoretical scenarios that experts argue are not technically feasible.

Innovation at Risk

There is a significant opportunity at this moment. The NOI rightly identifies emerging technologies that can enhance U.S. resiliency, including advanced chipsets, LEO-based positioning, crowd-sourced signal verification, and next-generation timekeeping tools.

However, that innovation cannot thrive in isolation. If the U.S. limits the ability of domestic systems to take full advantage of all available GNSS sources, it will undermine both resiliency and competitiveness. Even worse, it could widen the gap with foreign alternatives, especially China’s BeiDou system, which is already surpassing GPS in both accuracy and global coverage. GNSS has always thrived on multi-national cooperation and the opportunity of soft power influence. Both of which are diminished by exclusion, which is likely why there have not been bans by other countries to date.

A Path Forward

The FCC is right to prioritize this issue. It is urgent for the U.S. to build a more robust and secure PNT infrastructure in the face of these mounting threats. But its long-term success will depend on whether or not it embraces the full complexity of the PNT landscape.

This means supporting:
- Open, multi-constellation GNSS access for commercial users.
- A flexible, layered approach that integrates space, terrestrial, and user-level technologies.
- Public-private collaboration to accelerate innovation and deployment.
- Clear regulatory guidance that balances national security concerns with commercial realities.
The future of secure and reliable PNT lies not in isolating GPS, but in augmenting it through interoperability, diversity, and resilience at every layer of the system.

If the FCC’s inquiry can steer the country in that direction, it will be a pivotal moment not just for GPS, but for the entire space-based infrastructure upon which modern life depends.
May 14, 2025
US Army conducts high-altitude experiments with Zephyr UAS
A division of the U.S. Army Futures Command is conducting stratospheric experimentation using the Zephyr ultra-long endurance stratospheric unmanned aerial system (UAS). The tests are being carried out at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona by he Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing/Space (APNT/Space) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), which is based in Huntsville, Alabama.

The first flight of 2022, launched June 15, demonstrated Zephyr’s energy storage capacity, battery longevity, solar panel efficiency and station-keeping abilities that will further the army’s goal to implement ultra-long endurance stratospheric UAS capabilities.

During the flight, the Zephyr accomplished a number of firsts, including
- first flight into international airspace
- first flight over water
- longest continuous flight utilizing satellite communication controls
- the farthest demonstration from its launch point while carrying a commercial, off-the-shelf payload
- breaking the world record for longest duration UAS flight (26 days) set by the same aircraft in 2018. This flight has completed 36 days and is still flying over Yuma Proving Ground.
“Ultra-long endurance unmanned platforms have the potential to provide significant military capabilities and enhanced confidence as part of the Army’s diversified multi-layered architecture,” said Michael Monteleone, director of the APNT/Space CFT. “We have seen incredible progress in high-altitude platforms in recent years. This experimentation allows us to build on that knowledge by demonstrating multiple payload types, fully exploring the military utility of stratospheric operations, and modernizing areas of deep sensing, long-range targeting and resilient communications.”

Zephyr is prepared for a flight test. (Photo: Airbus)

Upcoming Second Launch. A second Zephyr flight will launch in the coming weeks and travel over the Pacific Ocean. The flight will demonstrate a prototype payload, developed by the Army Futures Command, over multiple combatant commands, and continue to inform high-altitude requirements.

The Airbus-developed Zephyr is the first high-altitude UAS of its kind, providing a persistent and adaptable longevity in the stratosphere. The experiments are performed with cooperation of the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Task Force, U.S. Army Program Executive Office – Aviation, and multiple combatant commands under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA), with T2S Solutions LLC as the integrator.

The APNT/Space CFT is responsible for accelerating the delivery of advanced APNT, tactical space and navigation warfare capabilities to the soldier. Working with a core team of experts, the CFT informs technology and system requirements through continuous experimentation and prototyping, technology integration and soldier feedback. Through this process, the APNT/Space CFT supports the Army Futures Command in delivering next-generation weapons, vehicles and equipment at an accelerated rate, giving Army forces the ability to deploy, fight and win decisively against any adversary, anytime and anywhere.
July 25, 2022
ESA investigates high-altitude pseudo-satellites for Earth observation

News from the European Space Agency

High-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) are platforms that float or fly at high altitude like conventional aircraft but operate more like satellites. (Image: ESA Earth Observation Graphics Bureau)

The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering extending its activities to a new region of the sky via a novel type of aerial vehicle, a missing link between drones and satellites.

High-altitude pseudo-satellites, or HAPS, are platforms that float or fly at high altitude like conventional aircraft but operate more like satellites — except that rather than working from space, they can remain in position inside the atmosphere for weeks or even months, offering continuous coverage of the territory below.

The best working altitude is about 20 kilometers, above the clouds and jet streams, and 10 kilometers above commercial airliners, where wind speeds are low enough for them to hold position for long periods.

From such a height they can survey the ground to the horizon 500 km away, variously enabling precise monitoring and surveillance, high-bandwidth communications or back up to existing satellite navigation services.

Several ESA directorates have teamed up to investigate their potential, explains future-systems specialist Antonio Ciccolella.

“For Earth observation, they could provide prolonged high-resolution coverage for priority regions, while for navigation and telecoms they could shrink blind spots in coverage and combine wide bandwidth with negligible signal delay,” Ciccolella said.

“ESA is looking into how these various domains can be best brought together.”

“We’ve been looking into the concept for the last 20 years but now finally it’s becoming reality,” explained Earth observation specialist Thorsten Fehr.

“That’s come about through the maturing of key technologies: miniaturised avionics, high-performance solar cells, lightweight batteries and harness, miniaturisation of Earth observation sensors and high-bandwidth communication links that can deliver competitively priced services.”

Navigation engineer Roberto Prieto Cerdeira added, “There’s obvious potential for emergency response. They could also be employed semi-permanently, perhaps extending satnav coverage into high, narrow valleys and cities.”

The QinetiQ-designed and Airbus-owned Zephyr-7 solar-powered unmanned aircraft holds the world flight endurance record at 14 days. (Photo: Airbus)

European companies have already unveiled product lines. For instance, Airbus has developed the winged, solar-powered Zephyr, which in 2010 achieved a world record 14 days of continuous flight without refuelling.

The Zephyr-S is designed to fly payloads of a few tens of kilograms for up to three months at a time, with secondary batteries employed to keep it powered and aloft overnight. A larger Zephyr-T version now in preparation will support larger payloads and power needs.

The first flight is projected for 2021 for Thales Alenia Space’s Stratobus airship. (Artist’s rendering: Thales Alenia Space/Briot)

Meanwhile, Thales Alenia Space is preparing the lighter-than-air Stratobus, with its first flight expected in 2021.

The buoyant Stratobus airship can carry up to 250 kilograms, its electric engines flying against the breeze to hold itself in position, relying on fuel cells at night.

Many other firms are also developing vehicles, payloads and services. Last month saw them gathered at ESA’s inaugural workshop, together with representatives of potential customers, including the European Defence Agency, Frontex — the EU agency tasked with Europe’s border management — and EU Copernicus environmental monitoring services.

Airbus’s double-tailed Zephyr-T variant HAPS aircraft is designed to support larger payloads, keeping them aloft for months at a time. (Image: Airbus)

“This was the first meeting of its kind in Europe, with more than 200 HAPS experts” explains Juan Lizarraga Cubillos, from ESA’s telecoms area.

“We heard from them on the needs, opportunities and critical issues within the field, particularly as a complement for existing satellite services, to start preparing a future ESA programme.”

ESA regards the vehicles as a valuable way of establishing applications that complement its satellites while also accelerating space technologies through early, high-altitude flight testing.

The point was also made that market acceptance of HAPS would come down to their efficiency and cost-effectiveness — and the best way to show that would be through demonstration projects.

“We have to fly them,” remarked Alvaro Rodriquez of the EU’s Satellite Centre. “The technology is there, all the ingredients are there, now it’s time to mix them into a nice recipe.”

Thales Alenia Space’s Stratobus is topped with solar panels, powering its propellers to fly against the wind at 20 km for prolonged periods of service. (Image: Airbus)

November 28, 2017
ESA investigates high-altitude pseudo-satellites

News from the European Space Agency

High-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) are platforms that float or fly at high altitude like conventional aircraft but operate more like satellites. (Image: ESA Earth Observation Graphics Bureau)

The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering extending its activities to a new region of the sky via a novel type of aerial vehicle, a missing link between drones and satellites.

High-altitude pseudo-satellites, or HAPS, are platforms that float or fly at high altitude like conventional aircraft but operate more like satellites — except that rather than working from space, they can remain in position inside the atmosphere for weeks or even months, offering continuous coverage of the territory below.

The best working altitude is about 20 kilometers, above the clouds and jet streams, and 10 kilometers above commercial airliners, where wind speeds are low enough for them to hold position for long periods.

From such a height they can survey the ground to the horizon 500 km away, variously enabling precise monitoring and surveillance, high-bandwidth communications or back up to existing satellite navigation services.

Several ESA directorates have teamed up to investigate their potential, explains future-systems specialist Antonio Ciccolella.

“For Earth observation, they could provide prolonged high-resolution coverage for priority regions, while for navigation and telecoms they could shrink blind spots in coverage and combine wide bandwidth with negligible signal delay,” Ciccolella said. “ESA is looking into how these various domains can be best brought together.”

“We’ve been looking into the concept for the last 20 years but now finally it’s becoming reality,” explained Earth observation specialist Thorsten Fehr. “That’s come about through the maturing of key technologies: miniaturised avionics, high-performance solar cells, lightweight batteries and harness, miniaturisation of Earth observation sensors and high-bandwidth communication links that can deliver competitively priced services.”

“There’s obvious potential for emergency response,” added Navigation engineer Roberto Prieto Cerdeira. “They could also be employed semi-permanently, perhaps extending satnav coverage into high, narrow valleys and cities.”

The QinetiQ-designed and Airbus-owned Zephyr-7 solar-powered unmanned aircraft holds the world flight endurance record at 14 days. (Photo: Airbus)

European companies have already unveiled product lines. For instance, Airbus has developed the winged, solar-powered Zephyr, which in 2010 achieved a world record 14 days of continuous flight without refuelling.

The Zephyr-S is designed to fly payloads of a few tens of kilograms for up to three months at a time, with secondary batteries employed to keep it powered and aloft overnight. A larger Zephyr-T version now in preparation will support larger payloads and power needs.

The first flight is projected for 2021 for Thales Alenia Space’s Stratobus airship. (Artist’s rendering: Thales Alenia Space/Briot)

Meanwhile, Thales Alenia Space is preparing the lighter-than-air Stratobus, with its first flight expected in 2021.

The buoyant Stratobus airship can carry up to 250 kilograms, its electric engines flying against the breeze to hold itself in position, relying on fuel cells at night.

Many other firms are also developing vehicles, payloads and services. Last month saw them gathered at ESA’s inaugural workshop, together with representatives of potential customers, including the European Defence Agency, Frontex — the European Union (EU) agency tasked with Europe’s border management — and EU Copernicus environmental monitoring services.

Airbus’s double-tailed Zephyr-T variant HAPS aircraft is designed to support larger payloads, keeping them aloft for months at a time. (Image: Airbus)

“This was the first meeting of its kind in Europe, with more than 200 HAPS experts,” said Juan Lizarraga Cubillos, from ESA’s telecoms area. “We heard from them on the needs, opportunities and critical issues within the field, particularly as a complement for existing satellite services, to start preparing a future ESA programme.”

ESA regards the vehicles as a valuable way of establishing applications that complement its satellites while also accelerating space technologies through early, high-altitude flight testing.

The point was also made that market acceptance of HAPS would come down to their efficiency and cost-effectiveness — and the best way to show that would be through demonstration projects.

“We have to fly them,” said Alvaro Rodriquez of EU’s Satellite Centre. “The technology is there, all the ingredients are there, now it’s time to mix them into a nice recipe.”

Thales Alenia Space’s Stratobus is topped with solar panels, powering its propellers to fly against the wind at 20 km for prolonged periods of service. (Image: Airbus)

November 28, 2017
Airbus to provide solar cells for MicroLink Zephyr UAV

Airbus Defence and Space has issued a production contract for MicroLink Devices’ solar sheets for use on the new Zephyr S platform.

The Zephyr platform is a new class of unmanned air vehicle that operates as a high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS) enabling affordable, persistent, local satellite-like services. The aircraft runs exclusively on solar power, and the Zephyr aircraft is at the forefront of the HAPS arena, holding world records with regards to absolute endurance (more than 14 days) and altitude (more than 70,000 feet).

The next generation of Zephyr HAPS — depicted flying in formation in the stratosphere — will be powered by MicroLink solar sheets. (Art: MicroLink Devices)

The British Ministry of Defence currently has ordered two Zephyr S from Airbus Defence and Space. The Zephyr S has a wingspan of 25 meters, is 30 percent lighter and can carry 50 percent more batteries than its predecessor — the 22.5-meter wingspan Zephyr 7. This enables the Zephyr S to carry heavier payloads for surveillance and communications roles.

The Zephyr S is designed to fly continuously for over a month before having to land. The vehicle can then be refurbished and redeployed.

The MicroLink Devices solar sheet is lightweight, flexible and highly efficient. It was designed as an enabling technology for electrically powered, area- and weight-constrained applications such as unmanned air vehicles, which run on renewable energy.

The combination of high-efficiency and low mass enabled by the epitaxial liftoff (ELO)-based solar cells provides superior performance. The ELO solar cells are a perfect match for the HAPS platform. The resulting solar sheets have specific powers in excess of 1,000 W/kg and areal powers greater than 250 W/m².

MicroLink’s ELO technology was sponsored by numerous U.S. agencies including NASA, DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Office of Naval Research, NAVAIR, Army Research Office, Army REF, CERDEC and the Department of Energy.

MicroLink Devices solar sheets are lightweight and flexible with high specific and aeral powers enabling significant mobile power generation. (Photo: PRNewsFoto/MicroLink Devices)

“We are extremely pleased to have developed a relationship with the Zephyr team four years ago and to transition our high-performance solar sheet development efforts into a production program,” said Noren Pan, president and CEO of MicroLink Devices. “We are also thankful to Airbus for their purchase order and the confidence they have in MicroLink’s solar sheet technology and manufacturing ability. We know of no other flexible solar sheet that offers a comparable performance in terms of power and weight and reliability under a wide temperature range.”

“Our collaboration with MicroLink Devices in the development stages and in the current production program has enabled the latest generation of Zephyr HAPS, which is a critical addition to our extensive portfolio of space and defense products,” said Steve Whitby, head of HAPS Business Development. “MicroLink Devices is a world leader in the epitaxial liftoff of compound semiconductors providing outstanding performance for many semiconductor devices. Combining Airbus and MicroLink Devices engineering expertise has proven to be a successful platform for our on-going success.”

May 18, 2016