Unmanned Systems Technology 010 | nuTonomy driverless taxi | Embedded computing | HFE International marine powertrain | Space vehicles | Performance monitoring | Commercial UAV Show Asia report

66 W hen it comes to understanding and optimising the performance of unmanned systems, data is at the heart of everything. The more of it that’s available, the more the central control unit can maximise the vehicle’s mission performance, while at the same time confirming that the system’s components are operating within prescribed parameters. From flow sensors for fuel, and current sensors for batteries, to temperature sensors throughout the system, monitoring performance is a key enabler for the efficient use of vehicles in the field. For UAVs powered by an internal combustion engine, monitoring the fuel more accurately means the aircraft can be kept airborne for longer, with less of an overhead of fuel on board. More accurate monitoring of systems with solid-state sensors on aviation platforms seems to be the way operators increasingly want to go, to keep them in the air for longer. Several UAV manufacturers are focusing on sensors for fuel and oil applications to improve performance monitoring. Monitoring the state of the system also gives essential data to allow the craft to return to base for refuelling or servicing in time, providing the maximum usage with minimum support. This opens up new use cases. With a Monitoring the performance of an unmanned platform is vital to its efficiency and reliability – and at the heart of that is an array of sensors, as Mark Venables explains Sensor direction October/November 2016 | Unmanned Systems Technology Performance monitoring is at the heart of the design of many UAVs, and requires calculations bringing together power, location and speed (Courtesy of Draganfly)