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51

AUVSI’s Xponential

|

Show report

who makes the final decisions about

landings, mission aborts and so on.

Greg Koskowich announced “a new

world record” for Alta Devices in reaching

an efficiency level of 31.6% with its latest

dual-junction cell solar panels. “We

currently hold the world record of 28.8%

for our single-junction solar cells,” he

said, adding that the dual-junction option

will be available for customers in 2017.

The same weight single-junction

option will still be available for customers

requiring a more affordable solution,

while Koskowich admitted that triple-

junction devices are “down the road”.

Click Bond offered a sneak preview

of its new lightweight screw at the show,

which it says offers significant weight

savings for aircraft and other weight-

sensitive applications. The new stainless

steel screw is up to 50% lighter than

common steel alternatives and as much as

17% lighter than those made of titanium.

The screw is hollow, and this is

accomplished through a proprietary

deep-drawn manufacture process for

good strength-to-weight ratio, while a

captive washer design reduces parts

count and foreign object debris. It is

initially available in 10-32 thread in 15

lengths from 0.250-2.00 in with a variety

of coatings, with other inch and metric

sizes to follow.

The latest product from KVH is the

Geo-Fog 3D inertial navigation system

(INS), reported Sean McCormack.

‘Fog’ stands for the Fiber Optic Gyro

incorporated into this INS, designed for

navigation and control applications.

McCormack explained that the system

is built on KVH’s Fog-based 1750 inertial

measurement unit (IMU), which contains

three DSP-1750 gyros integrated with

three low-noise MEMS accelerometers.

In the Geo-Fog 3D, this unit is integrated

with a pressure sensor, a three-axis

magnetometer and a single- or dual-

antenna RTK Trimble GNSS receiver.

McCormack remarked that the unit

has performance monitoring and

instability protection to ensure the

robustness of the data it generates.

“Using an innovative sensor fusion

algorithm, its high-performance filter is

more intelligent than the Kalman filter

typically used in inertial solutions,” he

noted.

“The Geo-Fog is capable of extracting

far more information from the 1750 IMU

core processor by using a cutting-edge

AI algorithm.”

He also highlighted the unit’s

north-seeking algorithm, which runs

continuously while it is operating and is

unaffected by velocity or angular motion.

“This gyro compass means the Geo-

Fog provides highly accurate heading

in environments where magnetometers

and GPS heading cannot be used,” he

pointed out.

Lockheed Martin used the show to

unveil an upgraded variant of its 5 lb

quadcopter in the form of the Indago 2,

with extended hover and faster forward

flight capabilities, thanks to a new

autopilot and a new 30x optical zoom

camera for stand-off inspections.

Developed by Procerus Technologies,

now a wholly owned subsidiary of

Lockheed Martin, Indago was aimed at a

gap in the small end of the market for an

industrial, public safety and military-grade

quadcopter that was quick to deploy,

featured hot-swappable payloads and a

sub-minute restart after a battery change.

Carried in a small backpack, it folds

down to dimensions of 12 x 9 x 7 in

and can go from case to flight in three

minutes, including all the pre-flight

checks, and offers 40-50 minutes’

endurance, depending on the payload.

Despite its low weight, it can tolerate

sustained wind speeds of up to 25 mph

and gusts of up to 35 mph.

The beyond-visual-range capability

is 2 km, which can be extended to

4 km, and the Indago 2 can fly at up to

500 ft above ground level and 18,000 ft

above mean sea level in temperatures

ranging from -30 to +120 F (-34 to 49

C). The digital data link works on S-band

and military frequencies and uses AES

256 encryption. The system comes with

a touchscreen hand controller and a

separate charging case.

The hot-swap capability enables the

operator to change payloads without

powering the vehicle down, explained

Christopher Mundt of GeoShack,

an industrial services company and

Lockheed Martin Unmanned Integrated

Systems’ North American distribution

partner. He demonstrated the quick

disconnect with a simple quarter-turn

and the same to attach the new payload,

securing it to the underside of the UAV

and making all the power and data

connections.

Ken Young of Lockheed Martin

Unmanned Integrated Systems,

Unmanned Systems Technology

| June/July 2016

Click Bond says its new screws are 50% lighter than common alternatives