Maximum travel speed performance of albatrosses and uavs using dynamic soaring

The travel performance in non-powered flight that is achievable with dynamic soaring is treated, with emphasis put on the highest net travel speed. A systematic mathematical approach is used, applying a realistic flight mechanics model for describing the 3-dimensional motion in dynamic soaring and an efficient optimization method for determining the trajectory that yields the maximum travel speed. It is shown how the maximum travel speed increases with the wind speed. Furthermore, characteristics of state and control variables are described for low and high wind speed cases. Supplementary to the mathematical treatment of the maximum travel speed problem, results from in-flight measurements are presented for supporting and confirming the theoretical findings.