MIAMI, 15 September, 2022. Undefined Technologies, a Florida-based startup, announced that its eVTOL ion propulsion drone, Silent Ventus™, has successfully completed a critical test flight hitting its projected flight time and lifting power, marking this a major milestone for the emerging dual-use cargo delivery drone. During the 4-1/2 minute flight, the aircraft demonstrated its flight performance beyond reaching steady-state conditions - with higher efficiency power delivery systems and noise levels below 75 dB.
"We've been on this upward trajectory for nearly a whole year, working hard on overcoming many technical challenges related to craft’s cooling systems, battery lifetime, avionics, and noise-abatement technologies," says Tomas Pribanic, Founder and CEO of Undefined Technologies.
"This milestone secures our vision of making ion propulsion technology viable for use in atmospheric conditions. I'm incredibly proud of our highly dedicated team who has been relentless in bringing our breakthrough over to the next development phase."
Undefined Technologies aims to achieve flights of 15-minutes of duration with noise levels below 70 dB by the end of the next year, overcoming noise restrictions for the last-mile cargo delivery sector. Noise is the second biggest environmental factor causing health problems after only air pollution, according to the WHO report, and the UN report in February declared urban noise pollution one of the world's "top emerging environmental threats”.
From the beginning, the company has followed a strict vertical integration model by designing and manufacturing its components in-house to speed up development, protect its intellectual property, and minimize supply chain disruptions in the current world environment.
"This 4+ min flight required advances in the chemical composition of the batteries that can now provide us with higher energy densities. This improvement is part of our efforts to target lighter weights,” adds Thomas Benda Jr., Lead Aerospace Engineer at Undefined Technologies.
The core element of the aircraft is the so-called "Ion Booster," which generates the ion cloud to yield higher levels of thrust, up to 150% compared to current ion thruster technologies. The "boost" of thrust generated by the innovative technology creates a technical and commercial opportunity for ion thrusters to become a viable option for electric propulsion.
The company has already demonstrated having the infrastructure and the talent to bring the eVTOL craft into commercialization for civil and military applications. It aims to develop a production-ready serial drone in 2024. After receiving strong interest from Federal and Commercial entities, Undefined Technologies is posed to start a new funding round.
Undefined Technologies has showcased its all-electric drone at several recent UAV and urban mobility expo shows, including Manifest 2022, CoMotion Miami 2022, the Commercial UAV Expo Americas, and the AUVSI XPONENTIAL, where the company registered significant interest from the largest drone delivery companies in the private sector.