Solar-Powered Airplane With Cameras and WLAN

An experimental airborne remote sensing system includes a remotely controlled, lightweight, solar-powered airplane (see figure) that carries two digital-output electronic cameras and communicates with a nearby ground control and monitoring station via a wireless local-area network (WLAN). The speed of the airplane — typically <50 km/h — is low enough to enable loitering over farm fields, disaster scenes, or other areas of interest to collect high resolution digital imagery that could be delivered to end users (e.g., farm managers or disaster-relief coordinators) in nearly real time.