76 Report | CUAV Expo Americas 2023 hinged beams, the beams each linking to an arm on a rotary servo actuator. This arrangement enables each rotor pair to pitch and roll independently of the others, giving the UAV the ability to perform a range of tasks involving physical contact. “The UAV’s four rotor pairs tilt as needed to keep the centre body stable and in place while flying. That stability turns it into a platform for contact instruments,” said Nikitia Iliushkin. “Our first use case for that is ultrasonic inspection of infrastructure assets, such as refinery pipes and pressure vessels, or that can extend to bridges and wind farm blades. Any large metal structure needs ultrasonic testing, but that’s typically done using workers and scaffolding.” The electric UAV is currently designed for an 8 minute optimal endurance (given the high number of motors and servos it operates during flight), and Iliushkin noted that the amount of work it can accomplish in that time would take a trained technician 1-2 hours if accounting for the movement of equipment and scaffolding. In future, the company also plans to offer the UAV for other contact or near-contact work that typically relies on scaffolding, such as aerial painting, coating, pressure washing, scrubbing and sanding. Aevex Aerospace had on display a range of its Assured PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) products, which are designed to sustain precise and resilient navigation in denied or constrained environments. Among them was its Geo-hNAV, a system consisting of two GPS receivers and one IMU with PNT capabilities packaged in a single enclosure. “With the Geo-hNAV, which is suited to low-aerodynamic vehicles working in surveying or search locations, you’d ideally install the two GNSS antennas with a separation from 0.5 m to about 3 m,” said Mark Glover. “Our customers in the DoD find a lot of use for this capability as well. “We provide commercial GPS receivers embedded inside the GeohNAV enclosure along with different IMU grades, from embedded MEMS IMUs to external, tactical or navigationgrade IMUs. We can also integrate a Selective Availability and Anti-Spoofing Module [SAASM], as well as the newer M-code, aimed at further enhancing anti-jamming and anti- spoofing of military GPS signals.” The Geo-hNAV weighs 567 g and consumes 2 A during normal operations over a 10-30 VDC input. The output data rate is a function of the IMU type, and is up to 400 Hz over Ethernet or RS-232. Aevex’s system can support a range of IMUs including models from Honeywell and Northrop Grumman. The Greene Rubber Company displayed some of its new thermal transfer materials aimed at removing heat from sensitive vehicle components. “These can be silicone-loaded materials with a thermally conductive dispersion in them, or they can be graphite materials which transfer enormous amounts of heat rapidly to a heat sink or something else where the heat won’t do damage, as they might with electronics,” said Steven Holm. “The key differentiator between them is weight. Graphite is a lot lighter, so in a UAV choosing the graphite over the silicone-loaded material would contribute to more air time.” Suggested areas of integration include battery packs, board-mounted electronics, and IMUs. End-users’ CAD files can be used to understand the installation case, design graphite or silicone-loaded parts accordingly, and where necessary layer them with complementary materials such as electrical insulators if necessary. Astrolabe Analytics is developing software for predictive battery maintenance capabilities it says are for users and manufacturers of batteries, UAVs and other uncrewed systems. “A lot of our early traction was through SBIRs from the US DoD and Air Force, and their interest in eVTOL and UAV solutions. That initial funding enabled us to develop the different algorithms we’re using to forecast battery health and performance under different operating scenarios,” said Robert Masse. The software, once complete, will be able to project the lifetime of October/November 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology Aevex Aerospace’s Geo-hNAV
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