Bionic dragonfly

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The bionic dragonfly is a large Antibug hunter bug machine fashioned after its biological blueprint.

History

Since the appearance of nanomachines on the battlefield it became necessary to counter them. As they are usually deployed in masses the arduous task of clean up could only efficiently managed by other nanomachines. The bionic dragonfly is only one such solution that also happens to be popular.

As versatile as it is its role covers many areas of small drones: patrol, surveillance, reconnaissance, firefighting, forward observer & fire director, search and rescue etc. The only downside to larger drones is due to mainly its size.

Design

power-velocity envelope

The following is speculative scifi and not established canon!

notional design specifications

Spec	Abh
Lenght [m]	0.075
Width [m]
Height [m]
Wingspan [m]	0.1
Mass [kg]	0.0014
running [km/h]	8.7
endurance flight [m/s]	1.7
cruise flight [m/s]	3.52
top speed [m/s]	41.43
Spec.Power [W/kg]	37.83 - 711
Thrust-to-Power [N/W]	0.0275 - 0.1471
bite force [N]

As a mainly flying machine, the dragonfly is very light compared to landbased bugs. However, it's powerful enough to lift 9 times its weight if necessary.

Communications and electronic countermeasure (ECM)

The dragonfly has a variety of communications devices.

• On its head it has 2 small (6Ghz) antennas.
• At the bottom end of its torax is a long detachable wire antenna (0.6-47 Ghz).
• It carries a standard blackbox quantum entanglement communications and navigation orb. This is the primary connection to an operator or C2i and above.
• On the right side a Yagi antenna (27-30.5 Ghz: 28 Ghz)serves both for ECM and swarm communication.
• On the left side a corner bent wideband phased array antenna (25-31 GHz: 28 Ghz) serves for directional signal source locator.
• Depending on mission it could have a specialized ECM tail kit. Otherwise a helical antenna serves as the main ECM system.

Depending on the power of the transmission and the surrounding environment the effective range can be as far as 600m to as little as 10m. Likewise, the drain on the batteries may require a number of redundant units to cover an area at all times.

Sensors

The dragonfly possesses numerous camera eyes. The multispectral photonic cameras require very little power. The main cameras serves for collecting intelligence, video recording as well as for operator operation if needed. The auxiliary camera primary serve for navigation, obstacle recognition and defense surveillance. The photonic elements are not effected by EMP.

Sensors

Spec	main camera	auxiliary camera
modes	daylight; night vision; IR/thermal	daylight; IR/thermal
number of cameras	2	6
Power [W]	0.0035	0.001
resolution	high	low to medium
range (magnification)

Mobility

The dargonfly possesses the ability to move on land, fly in the air and swim on water. It features 6 legs which allows it to move at a speed of up to 7 km/h on land; jump as high as 0.1m and swim(paddle) up to 0.05 km/h. The bug cannot dive but can be submerge up to 5m without damage.

It has four wings. It can fly at a speed of up to 149 km/h at an altitude above ground of up to 3000 m. The maximum altitude for safe 100% flight capability is up to 11278 m. The "muscle" power is provided by an actuator fluid powered by electricity. The fluid serves as pneumatic muscle. It acts as a natural cooling fluid, too.

Body and wings

The body structure is made up of shape memory superelastic alloys (SMA) and energy-absorbing protein-based material (TSAM). These offer lightweight, breathability for cooling, stiffness, durability, impact and deformation resistance and absorption. It's tough enough to resist biological predator attacks and crashes.

The shell armor consist of up to 0 mm thick SMA backed by TSAM. The SMA of the shell is non-magnetic and has low radar signature. The shell has cerakote coating applied as long-term protection against UV rays, dust, dirt and water. The side and top antennas aren't covered by the SMA.

The wings have shape memory alloys which reduces vibration allowing them to remain more effective than naturally possible. The wings feature single photon solar cells membranes with an efficiency of 99%. At full packed coverage the solar cell layer area becomes a pure black hue, hence, the cells are spaced enough to remain transparent. As such the coverage drops to 40%.

Batteries

Batteries

Spec	main system operation (CNT) high cap	mission operation (CNT) high cap	mission auxiliary (gel)high power
mass fraction	0.18	0.2	0.1154
mass	0.000252	0.00028	0.000162
energy density [Wh/kg]	760	760	401.22
power density [W/kg]	570	570	5200
capacity [Wh]	0.19152	0.2128	0.064821
capacity [J]	689.472	766.08	233.356
power [W]	0.14364	0.1596	0.840112

The dragonfly features 3 separate batteries for a number of reasons: easy management, different integration purposes

• Common operation battery, carbon nanotube (CNT) based high capacity version

for operating the computer system and the sensors

is designed as part of the structure

• Primary operation battery, gel based high power

for operating the ECM system and mobility

is designed as part of the cooling system; serving as a heat sink

• Secondary operation battery, carbon nanotube (CNT) based high capacity version

for supporting the primary battery and providing capacity; mainly charging it

is designed as part of the cooling system; serving as a heat spreader

Computer

The bug has a photonic computer system. It's not effected by EMP.

Weapons

Laser

A small laser is placed between the main eyes on the lower end but above the jaws

Jaw

The dragonfly has specially designed mandibles or jaws which can exert up to N of biting force. This is used as defense against natural predators as well as a tool for cracking other bug's armor. The blade edge is made of BC8 super-diamond with superior strength, hence, it won't break off after a number of uses like ordinary diamond. BC8's hardness and sharpness eases cutting performance significantly compared to most metal blades. It can cut any metal as long as they fit into the jaw.

Forceps and sting

The modular tail has two large forceps which can be used to grab onto a target and lift it. A short sting is locating within the center. Depending on mission the sting could be used to administer a drug or be used as a pile driver. Both require a different sting design and material and optional fluid tank.

See also

• Bionic hornet
• Bionic beetle
• Nanobot
• Antibug hunter bug