Design, Challenges, and Innovations of the CREATeV Solar-Powered UAV

The Clean Renewable Energy Aerial Test Vehicle (CREATeV) project has been the focus of the Applied Aerodynamics Laboratory of Flight (AALF) at Toronto Metropolitan University since 2017. This initiative aims to develop a solar-powered uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of breaking the world record for the longest autonomous flight. Featuring a 6-meter wingspan, lightweight composite structure, and 96-cell solar array, CREATeV serves not only as a technological innovation in ultra-long endurance flight but also as a foundation for generating new and diverse research avenues. Over the past eight years, the project has accumulated over 70 hours of logged flight time and generated numerous publications on topics such as flight path optimization, wind tunnel testing, design optimizations, and flight testing methodologies. Current research efforts focus on further extending the aircraft’s endurance, including dynamic soaring techniques making use of temperature inversions, gust energy harvesting through aeroelastic tailoring, and optimized daytime flight strategies to maximize solar charge. This paper provides an overview of the ongoing activities in the lab, showcasing the progress of the CREATeV project, recent test flights and experiments, and the future research opportunities it continues to present. It also discusses the challenges faced during development along with the solutions implemented to address them.