Unmanned Systems Technology 014 | Quantum Tron | Radio links and telemetry | Unmanned Aerial Vehicles | Protonex fuel cell | Ancillary systems | AUVSI 2017 Show report

Standard semiconductor techniques are now being used to produce optical chips that distribute cryptographic keys using this quantum entanglement. The chips will form the basis of a quantum cryptography system for a European military contractor’s UAV, as the resulting optical system can be ten times lighter than existing electronic 256-bit AES systems. Summary Radio links are an essential element in the design of an unmanned system. Used for identification and collision avoidance, control and payload video data delivery, there is a wide range of frequency bands, modulation schemes, protocols, standards and topologies available. These different uses map onto different technologies, but increasingly it is possible to provide all three with the same implementation with standard hardware and software. Mesh networks can now operate across multiple bands with multiple radios to connect a swarm of UAVs, while the latest compact satellite antennas can connect unmanned systems in inaccessible or extreme environments to operators anywhere in the world. Increasingly, developing a custom implementation is an expensive option. The new generation of single-chip V2X devices, which combine the radio and digital baseband processing, will be produced in millions of units for connected cars, and that will give UAV companies a major opportunity to provide identification, control and payload data links all in one device. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Geoff Smith of Rajant Technology, Craig Aine of NXP Semiconductor and Dr Chris Erven of KETS Quantum Security for their help with researching this article. A software-defined radio front end (Courtesy of Lime Microsystems)