Cartography UAS

Current Progress

Progress record: journal through 28 October 2026.

Project Twilight is a personal fixed-wing unmanned aircraft project intended for cartography and surveying. Development is currently centred on requirements, preliminary sizing and conceptual aircraft design. The configuration being explored uses a straight, unswept high wing, a conventional fuselage and tail, and propellers mounted beneath the wings. An initial CAD model was developed in September 2026 to visualise the arrangement and guide subsequent aerodynamic work.

Preliminary Sizing Targets

A working sizing spreadsheet is being used to explore mission requirements and aerodynamic assumptions. Current preliminary targets are a cruise speed of 15.65 m/s, a maximum speed of 20 m/s, a mission duration of 30–60 minutes and a planned operating-altitude ceiling of 120 m. These are design inputs and objectives, not demonstrated aircraft performance. Estimates of lift-to-drag ratio, battery energy and system efficiency remain provisional as the design is refined.

Planned Development

The initial approach is to develop the aeromechanical design around off-the-shelf electronics, with 3D printing under consideration for affordable prototyping. Zenotech has provided access to computational resources to support planned CFD investigations as the geometry matures. Detailed aerodynamic validation, final propulsion selection, manufacture and flight testing remain future work.