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AUVSI’s Xponential
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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