Unmanned Systems Technology 011 | C-Astral Bramor ppX | IMUs | Autonomous farming | UAV Turbines UTP50R | London Show report | Advanced materials | Las Vegas Expo report

80 consists of a Pelican Case measuring 3 sq ft. Damon Henry said, “We first supply an adapter kit, a range of which exist to fit various airframes. This adds the mechanical rails and electrical connectors needed to facilitate automated battery swapping. “It also connects directly into the autopilot and allows us to interface with the drone, so when the battery runs low the Dronehome takes control of the craft, autonomously flies it to the GPS coordinates of the box and precision-lands it on the deck; we then mechanically swap a fresh battery for the old one.” An ‘arm’ using a mechanised scissor lift and multiple stepping motors and servos extends out of the Dronehome and locates the UAV’s battery, before removing it, placing it below the deck to begin recharging, and swapping in a fresh power supply. The process takes up to two minutes before the aircraft can resume flight. Among the many OEM UAV modules presented by Trimble subsidiary Applanix was its newest single-board GNSS-IMU solution, the APX-15. Intended for small UASs, it measures 6 x 6.7 cm and weighs 60 g. Srdjan Sobol said, “Combining GNSS and IMU technology addresses the need for direct georeferencing for mapping payloads. The APX-15 has an interface that’s compatible with just about any sensor type – Lidar, mapping cameras, multispectral cameras and so on. And Applanix’s differential post-processing software, POSPac UAV, can improve the accuracy of georeferencing using adjustments from our reference base stations.” It is compatible with power inputs from 8 to 32 V dc, and average power consumption is 3.5 W. FLIR exhibited its VUE Pro R camera, which is designed to capture radiometric thermal imaging from UAV platforms. “The VUE Pro R weighs 100 g and takes 5 W of power,” said Danielle St Onge. “A calibration process within the sensor takes an average of temperatures through the use of a 4 x 4 pixel array spot meter in the frame, which gives an absolute temperature, and radiometry allows you to see what Fahrenheit or Celsius an image would be, based on the average. It thus captures temperature data in every pixel of an image.” The camera records radiometric JPEGs, 14-bit TIFFs and thermal minimum order value MPEG-4 video files in real time, with embedded temperature data for later analysis. There was a trend towards diversified UAV payloads and systems at the show, most notably with the FlyCam UAV DroneRAD system, a chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear defence detection system developed by US Nuclear Corp and deployed aboard the newest UAVs from its partner, Flycam UAV. DroneRAD detects alpha and beta particles, and gamma and neutron radiation as well as the radioactive isotope Carbon-14, and identifies chemical and biological contaminants such as anthrax and nerve gas, while fitting aboard the Flycam UAV Cypher-6 hexacopter’s 4.5 kg payload for up to 30 minutes per flight, piloted or with waypoint navigation. The payload can also be flown aboard Flycam UAV’s Acecore Technologies Neo UAV with additional sensors, thanks to its 9 kg payload limit, a capacity enabled through the unusual arrangement of the Neo V2’s eight brushless dc motors in its four branching arms. As Jeff Barnett explained, “The design is 3D-moulded carbon fibre, which gives it durability and low weight. Each boom ‘splits’ like a tuning-fork, cancelling out any vibrations to the centre of the aircraft, which is critical to keeping the flight controller – and the whole aircraft – vibration-free and weather resistant, reducing stress and damage over time to the airframe and payloads.” Fortem Technologies had on show its new DAA-R20 radar module, which has been SWaP-optimised by replacing key hardware items with the company’s proprietary algorithmic software solutions. The result is a unit weighing 492 g and measuring 20 x 8 x 4 cm. It consumes a maximum of 35 W using power inputs of 18-36 V dc. The DAA-R20 can be configured for one of three applications – collision avoidance for UAVs conducting potentially hazardous BLOS operations December/January 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology The Flycam Neo UAV, with the DroneRAD nuclear defence detection system