What Is Venturer?Venturer is Universal Wing’s Unmanned Air Vehicle system (UAV). It collects geophysical and remote sensing (aerial photography) data by autonomously flying a pre-programmed path or flight plan, incorporating Universal’s payload configuration.
Universal Wing has successfully demonstrated the feasibility of capturing industry standard airborne geophysical data and aerial photography using UAVs. Our first flight was on July 28th, 2005. Venturer is our third generation UAV. It incorporates all of our latest developments in payload technology, avionic improvements and flight operations.
Data collection often takes place in demanding locations: limited or no take-off/landing sites, water only, or extreme weather environments. Venturer is a customized UAV that is designed to overcome challenging environmental conditions. It contains military-grade electronic components, rated to operate in extreme and variable temperatures.
Universal Wing is committed to continually expanding operational and performance abilities of our UAVs.
Venturer is designed for 6-8 hour flight duration (depending on payload weight) and flights over 500 line kilometers between refuels. Fuel costs are significantly low. Our UAV burns 1:100 of the gasoline compared to manned aircraft.
A key component of our UAV system is the autopilot, which executes a pre-determined flight plan reliably and safely without human operator input. The autopilot includes a microcomputer for monitoring and adjusting flight functions during operations. The autopilot is designed to far exceed human endurance.
Venturer is designed to collect geophysical magnetic data using a cesium magnetometer. A separate data recorder collects magnetic signals for translation into geophysical data maps at a later date. Real-time data downloading is a future goal that will allow in-flight or even remote analysis of data as it is collected.
Universal Wing has also designed a system for geo-referenced/aerial photography using our proprietary housing for a specially designed camera.
Venturer can support a wide variety of miniaturized payloads that might, in the future, include magnetic, video, infrared, UV detectors and so on.
For geomagnetic data collection, the magnetic signature of the aircraft itself must be minimized to optimize data quality. Venturer is a non-magnetic system, equipped with carbon fibre reinforcements, non-ferrous fasteners and power sources, and shielded electronics. Venturer is equipped with a horizontal magnetic gradiometer for optimal data quality.
Universal Wing has successfully captured aerial photographs using Venturer.
Based on our clients needs, Venturer can fly at lower elevations and slower speeds than manned fixed wing aircraft (enhancing signal/noise ratios), resulting in high quality survey data acquisition.
