Here comes the suns – Flight safety for unmanned aircraft systems over active heliostat fields.

The freedom of flight allows unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) the ability to inspect large areas without the necessity of roads or other types of infrastructure. This is a very desirable trait when several thousands of mirrors require inspection. Operational concentrating solar power plants generate regions of high solar flux. These unseen areas present potential flights hazards to the UAS. The intensity of these areas over the field needs to be understood, as well as how these affect the flight of a UAS. How much flux can a UAS endure before it fails? Understanding this will allow a safe flight path to be generated to avoid these failures. In a first experiment, a DJI Phantom 3 (painted black) was subjected to six suns total irradiance. The internal and external temperatures were logged and analyzed. No internal or external damage to the UAS was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]