Structural Inflatables

The AirCruiser™ - Unmanned or Manned hybrid airship

The advanced concept exceptionally lightweight AirCruiser™ hybrid airship has been designed to bring back the pleasure into flying, being capable of cruising at 200knots and loitering at 40knots. It is a cross between an airship and a conventional aircraft in that it can be filled internally with helium in special pods, but any passengers are housed within the body rather than in a separate capsule.

Because it is heavier than air and because of its rotating shrouded propulsion system, which aids take off and landing as well as forward propulsion the  AirCruiser™ needs no ground handling crew, unlike ordinary airships which need anything from 3 to 16 handlers to safely recover the airship. This decreases operating costs and reduces considerably the ground based logistics, particularly as it also needs no tether mast.

The airFrame™

The airFrame™ is composed of many high-pressure structural airBeams™ which have one special advantage compared to any other type of frame, in that they can be filled either with air or helium to act as a storage vessel, whilst remaining the structural members of the plane. This means that the AirCruiser™ can be flown to its destination with the airBeams™ filled with air and, on arrival the airBeams™ can be evacuated, before being filled with the helium from the special pods inside the body of the plane, so that the latter can become a Convention or Exhibition hall. This enables more goods/passengers to be carried to the destination because of the extra lift from helium inside the body, before opening up the doors for visitors. Once the visitors have left, the airBeams™ refill the pods in the body with helium, the doors are closed with all equipment transported for the Exhibition stowed away and the AirCruiser™ returns to base, or next port of call.

CRUISE SHIP IN THE SKY

In its passenger carrying mode, the AirCruiser™ will bring back the days of the flying boat, with extreme comfort and luxury, cruising at 200knots to the destination, when it can become the transport for sightseeing trips at 40knots over the land, with quiet diesel engines which are rated as being the least polluting of all turbo props. This will probably cause less damage to the environment than transporting over the land by vehicles, yet everyone will be able to view the sights and game at leisure and in comfort.

HEAVY LIFT CARGO CARRIER

A further mode of the AirCruiser™ is its cargo carrying capacity, where it will be capable of carrying much bulkier cargo than is presently possible. A lot of the bulky cargo is not as heavy per cubic ft as cargo carried at present, but has to be dismantled before dispatch and re-assembled at the other end because of its bulk which is both time consuming and costly. In the AirCruiser™ the airBeams™ lend themselves to the formation of wide openings, because of their deflation/inflation capability, which allows the passage of large objects.

The AirCruiser™ was the subject of an application to the Millenium Commission in the UK for funds arising from the British National Lottery.Backed by 2 UK Universities, structural engineers, a major architectural practise, an airfield owner, aviation experts and economists, the project was turned down for funding because it was deemed to be "too commercial". The first airship type project to be given this accolade!

SURVEILLANCE

The AirCruiser™ becomes a remote control plane for Surveillance operations by radio controlling, rather than piloting the aircraft. The internal size and lifting ability of the AirCruiser™ is capable of carrying all the equipment required to stay on station for long periods at a time and the loiter ability is superb so, by being above the jet streams at 60-70,000ft, which is also outside the height window used by commercial airplanes, the AirCruiser™ could stay on station for months and possibly years (because the airBeams™ would store any excess helium required to replenish the internal bladders) without having to return to base. Because of its ease of operational use it would be possible to send the AirCruiser™ to its station, monitor the equipment and operate the sensors all by remote control. Having a large top surface, The AirCruiser™ could be the most efficient solar array surface possible, using thin film technology, which is now gaining maturity and coming down in cost. This would lead to electric motors for keeping station and returning whenever necessary to base.

13 Mile (21,000m) HIGH MAST

The ability to loiter 60-70,000  ft above the earth for long periods of time would also make the AirCruiser™ the most versatile Repeater station for mobile communications.

The reasons

• Congestion in Mobile Communications in larger cities – it is now being likened to ‘the last mile’ in landline connectivity
• Wireless connection speeds, even with 3G being rolled out, are not comparable to landline broadband connection speeds, thereby limiting delivery of services including video, large data files and high resolution images and IPTV is reckoned to be the killer app for mobiles
• Satellite transmissions have a high downstream capacity, but low upstream capability and need to be deployed in hundreds at high cost to cover the earth. Special protocols are required as one satellite hands over to the next and there is high latency in signal reception
• Skyscraper cities make it almost impossible to have sufficient terrestrial antenna masts to provide an ubiquitous wireless network, because of zoning laws, negotiation of permissions to site a mast, and shear numbers of masts required e.g. London
• The very real fear of consumer rejection of terrestrial masts sited near schools, hospitals and homes and the threat of legal action against telecoms with multi-million dollar class lawsuits, some of which are apparently already underway
• Cost – in the end it will be less costly to deploy and service an AirCruiser™ tower mast array than a multitude of land based units
• The telecommunications payload is housed within the body of the AirCruiser™ because the Airbeams are transparent to radio waves. This aids the aerodynamic form of the  AirCruiser™ and therefore increases speed in relation to power input

 The AirCruiser™ will take off like a conventional STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) aircraft from any small airfield that is convenient to the desired area of operation

The power to the engines and antenna array will be supplied from banks of solar panels affixed to the top skin of the aircraft attached to the airFrame^tm, formed by the airBeams™

Carrying capacity of the AirCruiser™is sufficient to ensure that storage of energy is enabled during the daylight hours for use at night and the power supplied ensures that even in heavy rain, the signal to ground is strong, unlike satellites

It will be remotely piloted for take-off visually and will then be flown to a position over the city, above scheduled aircraft routes, so that it doesn’t interfere with passenger aircraft

At 50-70,000ft (app 10-13 miles) (15-21,000m), it will fly into wind at sufficient speed to ensure a geo-stationary position in relation to the area to be serviced, or it will fly in an ellipsoid parabolic curve to service a greater area. This will be an automatic operation by on-board GPS, wind speed and altitude indicators, power controls and computer controlled fly-by-wire technology, but, like all on-board operations, continuously monitored from the ground, with over-ride capabilities.

• ¨ Stratospheric Telecommunications Services (as the service is to be called), unlike the installation of terrestrial based masts, can commence throughout the area immediately the AirCruiser™ is in position to begin receiving and transmitting signals.
• ¨ The antenna array can be orientated automatically on board, but adjustments from the ground can be accomplished by remote control, if required, to give the best signal to the area to be serviced
• ¨ The AirCruiser™ will not be a potential health hazard like terrestrial masts sited near homes, schools etc.
• ¨ The construction of the AirCruiser™ is particularly safe, having a planned redundancy factor well above the potential competitors for Stratospheric Telecommunication Services. The airBeams™ are designed and constructed to form the airFrame™ in such a way that any failure is never catastrophic, allowing the aircraft to be recovered safely, without becoming a hazard to other aircraft, infrastructure or people on the ground.
• ¨ The height and variable angle of the AirCruiser™ will ensure that those serviced by its antenna do not suffer from congested or distorted signals. The radius of the footprint will be between 30-40 miles, giving ubiquitous coverage to the city and its neighbouring communities with minimal latency (0.5milliseconds compared to LEO based satellite delay of 250milliseconds)
• ¨ If the area to be covered is too large for a single AirCruiser™ it may be necessary to fly more than one aircraft, in which case it will be possible to increase the total coverage considerably by using the multiple units as a repeater grid
• ¨ The telecommunications payload on board the AirCruiser™ will provide high speed, high capacity broadband services to thousands of users through various classes of service, ranging from a beam delivering 1-10Mbps for SME’s, a shared beam for individual households and a 10-25Mbps beam for larger companies, whilst a dedicated beam could deliver 25-155Mbps
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