UNSW engineers and scientists are building an all-electric powertrain system for a drone capable of delivering cargo to remote rural Australia.
The work bridges a critical gap in the burgeoning commercial drone sector—testing not only whether off-the-shelf parts perform as expected, but also that they work in tandem.
Dr. Matthew Priestley is leading the development of the system, which includes all the elements that generate and deliver the power propelling the aircraft, at the UNSW's Electrical Engineering drone motor testing lab.
He says that drone manufacturing is currently the "wild west" of aviation, and a lack of data on the performance of commercially available parts, particularly in real-world conditions, makes building drones challenging.
Lab testing is, therefore, critical in reducing the risk of expensive or damaging test flight crash landings.
Dr Priestley's system will power an AURA-E (Australian Ultra-efficient Regional Aircraft – Electric), a large, fixed-wing drone in development to one day deliver heavy cargo hundreds of kilometres.
The AURA-E project is led by US-based startup Seaflight Technologies and Macquarie University, along with a consortium of Australian companies and organisations, which UNSW now joins.
Around half of the project's total $3 million funding comes from the Federal Government's Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships (EATP) program, and the work at UNSW is supported by the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy, which helps translate university technology into industry manufacturing.
Elevating Australia's aviation industry
Dr Priestley says that local capability to support similar projects is important for national security, both because drones are crucial to Australia's sovereign industries, such as mining and agriculture, and because they can be used for surveillance.
"It's important we get security right with these types of drones in the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) sector, because otherwise we risk hacking."
"Drone security is crucial to manage public perceptions and acceptance of a technology that has the capacity to spy on you."
Prototype pushing the limits
Seaflight's founder and Executive Technical Fellow, Dr. Graham Doig, says the drone's powertrain will be combined with a new type of active aerodynamic flow control system to deliver improved range and payload.
The initial sub-scale proof-of-concept prototype will be capable of delivering between 40 to 50 kilograms several hundred kilometres.
But, Dr. Doig says, the team is working toward a drone with a 200-to-300-kilogram capacity.
"You can start talking about resupplying a community with medical supplies or fresh fruit and vegetables that otherwise would have come from the other side of the country in a diesel-spewing truck," he says.
"We're taking that off the road, and we're replacing it with near-zero emissions technology that can provide people with goods that they need the next day."
Piloting aviation's future
Dr Doig, who is a senior lecturer at UNSW's School of Aviation, says drones are shifting the landscape of the industry radically.
"If you imagine drones as being almost like a mini airline, you could have hundreds or even thousands of flights per day, and you have to understand every aspect that goes into running this mini airline."
He says aviation students need to learn far more than just how to operate a drone.
"We need to deliver a very entrepreneurial focus. We want to make sure students come out of the program willing to start their own company, join another startup, or look for those opportunities within larger companies to use these new technologies."
"This is an exponential growth space; there are just so many opportunities."
Students from UNSW's RPAS program will be on the flight testing and remote piloting team for the AURAE prototype's first flight, currently scheduled for late 2025.
