This 6-month feasibility study, a collaboration between Greenjets Ltd and Brunel University London, investigates whether a scalable AI-driven design toolset can rapidly and accurately design customised commercial drones powered by Greenjets' superior sustainable electric jet engines. Customised commercial drones offer optimised performance for various use cases across diverse industries, extending drone applicability, and reducing energy consumption and emissions compared to other vehicles. An early-revenue UK SME, Greenjets has pioneered sustainable electric jet engines for commercial drones that are safer, quieter and more efficient than competitors. But maximising their potential calls for a holistic drone design approach, where all three main drone elements (propulsion, airframe and energy source) are considered in tandem. Such an approach is too costly and time-consuming via traditional (i.e. human) design processes, and does not guarantee optimal designs. This is why this project will investigate the feasibility of developing a scalable AI-accelerated design and customisation process that accurately and rapidly delivers unique fit-for-purpose sustainable commercial drone designs. Successful post-project development of this process will deliver significant design optimisation and customisation benefits, time-saving and cost-saving opportunities, and generate cutting-edge sustainable fit-for-purpose drone designs that help commercial drones reach their full potential---predicted to deliver £45billion to the UK economy, save businesses £22billion, generate 650,000+ jobs and cut 2.4million tons of carbon emissions by 2030\.

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) have emerged as adaptable and capable innovations in a host of industries, most notably transport and logistics. Drones are increasingly being adopted to deliver parcels to backyards, transport medications to inaccessible locations, and even shuttle parts from one side of a warehouse to another. These and many more use cases across diverse industries are showcasing the transformative power of drone technology. And as drone technology continues to evolve, new applications in a wide range of industries will undoubtedly materialise. Towards maximising drone performance and capabilities, Greenjets is developing an innovative range of e-propulsors for commercial transport drones. These novel all-electric, scalable, zero-emission e-propulsors fit the entire powertrain into the annulus of a ducted fan, making them the world's quietest, safest and most efficient electric jet-engines. However, with demanding and diverse customer requirements, Greenjets has to refine the e-propulsor design for each use-case. Using Greenjets' current processes, bespoke designs can take 6-12 months---an unacceptable delay in such a fast-moving industry. This project aims to dramatically reduce Greenjets' e-propulsor design timescale to 6 weeks by developing an AI-driven design toolset to rapidly generate flexible and optimal full e-propulsor designs. In partnership with the University of Cambridge, Monumo and Cosworth, Greenjets will engineer a full AI-driven coupled aerodynamic and motor design and development capability. Integrated together, the design toolset will then be used to rapidly design and subsequently build and test e-propulsors. Using bespoke data acquisition technology, also developed in this project, in-service data from e-propulsors will be used to validate and further refine the design toolset post-project. Implementing the AI-driven design toolset will allow SME Greenjets to increase productivity and efficiency, providing the opportunity to grow the company's client base and scale production. But most importantly, flexible, fast and optimised AI-driven design will result in high-quality all-electric propulsion modules that meet the needs of the commercial transport drone industry, optimised for full-life and all-duty-cycle performance, and fully adaptable to diverse customer requirements and applications---both now and in the future.

This 6-month feasibility study, a collaboration between Greenjets Ltd and the world leading Whittle Laboratory, University of Cambridge, aims to develop a scalable AI-driven design for customised e-propulsion engines in the transport sector, specifically for Advanced Aerial Mobility solutions, i.e. drones. Customised drones offer optimised performance for various last-mile delivery use cases, reducing energy consumption and emissions compared to other vehicles. Greenjets, as an early-revenue UK SME, faces challenges in the slow and expensive design process, hindering market penetration. To capitalise on the growing AAM market, Greenjets must achieve optimal bespoke designs within shorter timeframes. The Whittle Laboratory, University of Cambridge has developed a novel methodology combining rapid testing and physical parameterisation to address this. Successful implementation of this methodology will enable AI-driven decision making, reducing design time and allowing Greenjets to scale production to meet diverse customer requirements efficiently.

ZEHPHyr1, Zero Emission Hydrogen Powered Hovercraft, is an 8-month feasibility which will de-risk the key barriers to zero-emission hovercraft operations. These barriers include -- operational barriers (socio-economics, crew training, regulations, life cycle impact), technical barriers (hydrogen-based propulsion system) and availability of hydrogen infrastructure (production, storage, distribution, bunkering, integration with wider infrastructure/mobility). The central innovation in the project is the replacement of the diesel engines in today's hovercraft with a zero-emission hydrogen propulsion system consisting of MW class fuel cells, electric thrusters and high-power batteries. The project's goal is to find credible solutions to overcoming the above barriers and in doing so, pave the way for follow-on phases of development, where the novel propulsion system will be demonstrated on 12-seat and 80-seat hovercraft. Introduction of zero-emission hovercraft into commercial service is expected in 2027/28, with letters of support received from potential end users. In addition to the hovercraft, additional spillover products are expected to be commercialised as a result of the project, namely MW class fuel cells and batteries (into other marine vessels) and electric thrusters (into other industries, e.g., aerospace). The project team consists of a best-of-breed consortium well placed to deliver the desired goals of the project. Led by Blue Bear, the team includes, Griffon Hoverwork Limited, Bramble Energy, Nyobolt, Aquatera and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).

Project InCEPTion will develop a novel all-electric propulsion module that is safe-by-design, scalable, modular, power dense, quiet, efficient and enables the combined use of batteries and fuel cells in aircraft. The module will accelerate the electrification of various classes of electric aircraft (0-30 PAX), from eVTOLs, general aviation eCTOLs, up to sub-regional aircraft. The best-of-breed UK consortium includes - Greenjets (Lead, previously Blue Bear), Drive System Design, Ricardo, Dowty Propellers, M&I Materials, University of Cambridge-Whittle Laboratory, University of Salford-Salford Acoustics. The propulsion module will incorporate and demonstrate key innovations, including rotor and stator aerofoils and structures optimized aerodynamically for enhanced electric efficiency and reduced noise. It will also feature a battery power and control system with advanced thermal management, utilizing dielectric fluid for improved performance, and a rim-driven dual-stage motor for higher power density and operational reliability.