SBIR/STTR Award attributes
The range and endurance of Group 1 and 2 UAVs is severely limited to currently available battery technologies. Small gasoline engines are the only technologically mature way to achieve long range. These engines are heavy, unreliable, inefficient, noisy, and expensive. Mesodyne provides silent, reliable, long endurance power from any fuel enabling small electric drones to fly ten times further compared to systems only using Li-Ion batteries. Specifically, Mesodyne’s patented Light-Cell technology uses a nanophotonic material to convert fuel into electricity with unprecedented energy density at the 100-1000 W scale. In this Phase I, we first validate the military’s need for our technology. Then, in collaboration with the prime contractors (UAV manufacturers), we define the product specifications of a Light-Cell power generator to be integrated into a sUAV, enabling new capabilities, improved logistics, and lower operational cost.
