Ground Carriage

The mobile runway system, also known as a ground carriage, is a revolutionary concept for drones, currently being developed by mb+Partner. The new technology will allow flexible operations of fixed-wing unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) independent from conventional runway infrastructure and in xSTOL (extra short take off & landing) scenarios. An initial goal is to provide a mobile runway system that can be set up for automated operations by 2 people within 1-2 hours with minimal location constraints.

 

The application of UAVs starting from a mobile runway system enables automated surveillance and services with long range or large area requirements. Examples for  long range surveillance scenarios are the regular flyover of pipelines, train tracks, coastlines and power lines. Large areas need to be surveyed in the case of search & rescue, emission detection, early wildfire detection and many more. 

Future applications with larger UAV and light aircraft include cargo transport, automated firefighting UAV and handling regional battery-powered aircraft, which benefit exceptionally from mass savings due to the large battery weight.

 

First working test carrier

As part of the REALISE research project, the first functioning test carrier of a mobile runway system was put into operation, as shown in the video. Since then, the entire system has been further developed as part of the ElektRail project to accommodate larger drones and small aircraft weighing up to 400 kg.