This paper reports the development of an experimental airship drone powered by microwave as a precursor toward a large-scale airship drone for cargo transportation in mind under the collaboration with U.S. Federal Highway Administration and universities. Research work on a 2.2-m long airship drone powered by X-band microwave has provided sufficient data for the design and analysis for the operation of airship drone. A block of 16 rectenna array sheets of X-band was placed on each side of the airship drone (total 32 sheets) to collect and convert microwave power into direct current power for running the electrical propulsion system. The demonstration of the airship drone operation, powered only by microwave, was successfully performed inside the High Intensity Radiation Facility chamber located at NASA Langley Research Center. The data show the feasibility of practical use of microwave power for a transportation airship drone.

中文翻译：

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微波动力飞艇无人机的初步操作方面

本文报告了在与美国联邦公路管理局和大学合作的情况下，开发了一种由微波驱动的实验飞艇无人机，作为一种用于货物运输的大型飞艇无人机的先驱。X波段微波驱动的2.2米长飞艇无人机的研究工作为飞艇无人机的运行设计和分析提供了充足的数据。在飞艇无人机的每一侧（共 32 片）放置了一块 16 片 X 波段整流天线阵列片，用于收集微波功率并将其转换为直流功率，用于运行电力推进系统。仅由微波驱动的飞艇无人机操作演示在位于美国宇航局兰利研究中心的高强度辐射设施室内成功进行。