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60 A s the world of unmanned systems mushrooms, so does the AUVSI’s annual conference and exhibition. This leading US trade organisation moves the event from one city to another, and it was noticeable this year how it had grown from the 2014 event in Florida’s Orange County Convention Center in Orlando to this year’s downtown Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. New this year was a UST magazine booth – we hadn’t been launched when the 2014 event took place. This May we were able to present our first two issues which, we are pleased to be able to report, have been greeted with acclaim in the industry. With so much happening over three days, both myself – editorial director Ian Bamsey – and correspondent Tom Withington walked the busy aisles to prepare this report. With the world of unmanned systems growing so fast we can’t hope to present a fully comprehensive report of everything on show in Atlanta – that would take a book – so what follows here is the pick of the many fascinating technologies Tom and I found on display in Atlanta. Professional photographers will know that Phase One has the highest megapixel sensor of any medium- format digital camera system currently on the market: it offers no less than 80 megapixels (MP). The company has a division that specialises in aerial photography, and from it has come a series of cameras that are optimised for use in UAVs. Stephen Epstein told us that the Phase One iXU aerial cameras are the smallest and lightest medium-format cameras in the world, and range from a 50 MP CMOS- based sensor to the 80 MP CCD camera. All models provide exceptional resolution when capturing still images from a UAV. He noted that all Phase One aerial cameras capture a high amount of raw data and can store images on a host computer via USB 3.0 or internally on a CompactFlash card, for downloading after landing. The iXU 150 camera also has an HDMI output, enabling operators to remotely view video in real time and to trigger the camera when ready for a capture – especially useful in inspection applications of wind turbines, bridges and towers. Alternatively, the UAV can be pre-programmed to fly to waypoints where the camera can capture images. The iXU 180 camera is designed to be deployed with a choice of six Schneider- Ian Bamsey and Tom Withington pick out some highlights of the AUVSI Unmanned Systems show 2015, which brought the industry together in Atlanta, Georgia Summer 2015 | Unmanned Systems Technology Boom time The show has grown noticeably since last year, reflecting the growth in the unmanned systems market